Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 10y

Frankfurt decide against penalty protest after broken headset

Eintracht Frankfurt will not lodge a protest against their 1-0 defeat at home to FC Augsburg on Sunday, in which the referee failed to award what appeared to be a clear penalty kick.

With the game still 0-0 after 16 minutes, Augsburg's Dominik Kohr pulled down Frankfurt attacker Vaclav Kadlec in the box, and many inside Frankfurt's Waldstadion expected referee Manuel Grafe to point to the spot -- but he never blew the whistle.

The referee later apologised to Frankfurt coach Thomas Schaaf, and explained that he and his assistant did not see the infringement, and that the fourth official had tried to contact him via the headset. However, Grafe and the fourth official were not able to communicate because of problems with their headset.

Schaaf told reporters after the match: "Mr Grafe came up to me, and said: 'I'm sorry, that was a clear penalty.' And that penalty would have certainly helped us. But I really appreciate that he's taken a stance. We had too many mistakes in our game today, and we will work on a lot of things, but not on the headset."

Late on Sunday, it was still unclear whether Frankfurt would register a protest against the result with the DFB. But, on Monday, Die Adler CEO Heribert Bruchhagen told FAZ that they are not planning to take the case forward.

"It was a referee's decision, you can't do anything against it, you never have since the beginning of football," he explained. "I've rarely seen a clearer penalty from the stands. That was indeed a grave decision against us. Because it would have not only meant penalty for us, but also a red card against the Augsburg player. But it is like it is. Such things happen."

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