Referee Deniz Aytekin with tirade against ex-referee Manuel Gräfe

Sreferee Deniz Aytekin with a tirade after the Bundesliga top game of FC Bayern against RB Leipzig also Thomas Müller made to smile. The national player was just doing the television interview when Aytekin expressed his anger about a media request about a scene at 1: 3 in Munich and about expert Manuel Graefe.

“In the stadium nobody talks about the referee,” said the angry 44-year-old Aytekin on Saturday evening, clearly audible in the catacombs. The former referee Gräfe sits in Berlin “and talks such shit and that’s slowly going against the grain. This is madness.” Müller, who was standing a few meters away, stopped speaking in front of the camera and said: “We’re listening intently.”

The 49-year-old Gräfe observes the performance of the referees as a television expert for ZDF and via Twitter critical. He should “speak some shit about a pluck,” Aytekin now scolded. “It has nothing to do with sport anymore. The game was decided by the players.”

Aytekin then apologized to Müller for disturbing his interview. “It’s fine, I’m happy to listen,” the 33-year-old replied with a smile. In the ZDF sports studio, the scene before Leipzig’s 1-1 draw was discussed late on Saturday evening. Aytekin explained that he could not call a foul for Bayern despite a slight save.

Aytekin also said on Sunday that he and his team were happy to have survived the important game in Munich without making any major mistakes. That’s why he got very emotional when he was asked for an interview about Gräfe’s criticism immediately after the game.

“Then I freaked out. I would like to sincerely apologize for the choice of words. That was totally over the top. I’m very angry with myself and the choice of words,” said Aytekin at “Bild” and announced a donation of 5,000 euros to a good cause as penance for his freak out.