Manuel Gräfe let two penalty kicks being re-taken

German referee Manuel Gräfe let a penalty kick being retaken in a penalty serie. Twice!

The cup match between Fortuna Düsseldorf and Borussia Dortmund ended goalless after 120 minutes. In the penalty serie Blaszykowski from Dortmund thought he made the 2:2 (after 4), but Gräfe was resolutely pointing to his whistle, demanding the Polish player from Dortmund to re-take the penalty kick.

Immediately after that Andreas Lambertz from Düsseldorf misses. He walks away, head in his hands. But what he did not realize is again the call for a re-kick by the referee. Goalie Weidenfeller and a field player who came running from the middle line heavily protested and got both a yellow card. But I think the referee’s decision was correct (no replay shown), because the goalie was way before the goalline at the moment the ball was kicked.

At his second time from eleven metres Lambertz scored, but it was not enough for the win. I’m awaiting the video highlights, because Weidenfeller was also pretty far forward when he stopped another Düsseldorf penalty kick.

Assistant referee keeps ball in play

The Dutch commentator was wondering why play was still going on, but here’s a perfect example of an assistant referee who touches the ball when it’s in play.

He’s no so-called outside agent, so the game should go on. See video of situation in EC qualifier between Finland and The Netherlands below.

Such thing happened a few weeks ago in a match in one of the British lower leagues, but I can’t find it back. The referee was on the sideline and ball bounced via him to the defending team. They started a couter-attack and scored. Ever experienced that?