NEWS
After Schopp: Zaric also fires at Austria's referees
The SCR Altach coach joins Markus Schopp's criticism. Two incidents on Saturday drove him to a frenzy.
The performances of Austria's referees continue to be a hot topic in the ADMIRAL Bundesliga.
On Saturday, Ognjen Zaric followed suit. After the 1-1 draw against SV Ried (Match report >>>), the Altach head coach vented his frustration in a "Sky" interview.
The trigger for Zaric's anger was the hard tackle by Ried defender Samuel Chukwudi on Mike-Steven Bähre after about an hour. Chukwudi went in frontally with a stretched leg on his opponent, but also played the ball. Referee Julian Schnur only showed a yellow card.
"It's a clear red card that wasn't given. For me, that's more dark red than anything else. I absolutely cannot understand it," Zaric fumed.
Zaric: "We need to make sure we have enough doctors with us"
Already during the match, Zaric's frustration over the unissued red card was evident. "I was emotional because it's dangerous for the player. I agree with the words of my colleague Schopp (Read more here >>>). We have a VAR. Why doesn't the VAR intervene?"
The Altach coach emphasized several times that this was not meant to be direct criticism of referee Julian Schnur. Rather, he is targeting the VAR and Austrian referees as a whole.
"It's about an overall issue that needs to improve in Austrian football." Players must be better protected, according to Zaric. If that doesn't happen, then "we need to make sure we have enough doctors with us," the Altach coach quipped sardonically.
Zaric also annoyed by uncalled penalty
Incidentally, it wasn't the only incident that annoyed Zaric that evening. The Altach coach was also displeased by the uncalled penalty after a supposed foul on Lukas Jäger in injury time.
"That's a penalty. You have to be completely honest about that. It might be difficult for the referee to see, but why wasn't a penalty given there? Someone needs to explain that to me, and I have to protect my players and the club. I cannot understand it."
Thus, Altach had to settle for "only" one point on Saturday. Although even this point hung in the balance for a long time, as Srdjan Hrstic's equalizer came only in the first minute of injury time.
"It's certainly a deserved point," Zaric believes.
Ried: "Calm" during and after the match
Ried head coach Mario Despotovic, on the other hand, saw "perhaps the calmest match" from his team "in recent months." "You could tell that three games in one week is something extraordinary, which is why the tempo was a bit lower."
"We have 16 points. That's stable. We are on a good course, that's okay," said Despotovic.
What did Despotovic have to say about the criticism from his counterpart Ognjen Zaric? "I'm not the type to evaluate referee performances or speak publicly about them. That's not my job."
