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Bellingham fined €40,000 for referee outburst

Published : 08 Dec 2021, 00:22

  DF News Desk
Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham. Photo: Bernd Thissen/dpa.

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham has been fined of 40,000 euros for his criticism of referee Felix Zwayer after the weekend defeat by Bayern Munich, the German Football Association announced on Tuesday, reported dpa.

The 18-year-old avoided a suspension for his unsportsmanlike conduct. The England international has accepted the verdict.

Bellingham was upset Dortmund defender Mats Hummels was penalized for handball as Robert Lewandowski scored the 3-2 winner from the the resulting spot-kick on Saturday in the Bundesliga table-topper.

"You give a referee, that has match fixed before, the biggest game in Germany, what do you expect?" Bellingham said in an interview with Norwegian broadcaster Viaplay.

"For me, it wasn't [a penalty]. He is not even looking at the ball and he's fighting to get it and it hits him.

"You can look at a lot of the decisions in the game."

Zwayer was banned for six months in 2005 for his involvement in a scandal around former referee Robert Hoyzer fixing matches.

Dortmund were also unhappy a challenge from Lucas Hernandez on captain Marco Reus in the box was not at least reviewed on video, as Zwayer did in the Hummels decision.