FC St. Gallen are in the Conference League play-offs after a completely crazy game against Wroclaw. After the game, the Poles are fuming with rage and shoot at the referee.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- FC St. Gallen loses the Conference League qualifying second leg against Slask Wroclaw 2:3, but advances to the play-offs thanks to the 2:0 win in the first leg.
- Several refereeing decisions drive the Poles to white heat.
- Wroclaw coach Jacek Magiera announces after the match that they intend to lodge a protest.
The second leg between FC St. Gallen away at Polish representative Slask Wroclaw will be talked about for a long time to come. FCSG lost 2:3, but thanks to the 2:0 first-leg victory, advanced to the next round and will now face Trabzonspor in the Conference League play-offs.
For the Poles, it is clear who is to blame for their team's elimination: the Croatian referee Duje Strukan. The fans flooded the net with nasty comments and coach Jacek Magiera also took the referees to task at the post-match press conference, saying he had even paid them a visit in the dressing room.
The elimination will not simply be accepted. "A protest can be lodged. I think we should even lodge it to make a big noise about this match and to banish this kind of interference by referees and people from the game." In his opinion, the referees "should be held accountable". However, he does not believe that they will be successful with their protest.
The Wroclaw fans are also raging online. For example, there are countless comments under an FC St. Gallen post on "X", which are mainly aimed at the referee, and the question is thrown into the room: "Why didn't the referee wear a St. Gallen shirt?"
Why are the Poles beside themselves?
Wroclaw supposedly took the lead in the 10th minute, but after the VAR intervened, the goal was disallowed due to a foul on goalkeeper Lawrence Ati Zigi. A correct decision. St. Gallen were also lucky in the 76th minute when, following VAR intervention, Strukan revoked a penalty that had already been awarded to Wroclaw and instead sent off Aleks Petkov with a yellow-red card for a foul.
In the 8th minute of stoppage time, the referee then overlooks a handball by Nahuel Leiva. The referee is asked to look at the screen, takes another look and decides to award a penalty to St. Gallen. A scuffle ensues and the handball offender is shown yellow and red.
Three minutes later, Christian Witzig runs up to take the penalty and is denied by the goalkeeper. But because Rafael Leszcynski moves off his line too early, the penalty is retaken. Now Willem Geubbels steps up - the 18th minute of stoppage time has now elapsed - and he converts the penalty to make it 2-3. But that is not the end of the story.
In the 109th minute, Magiera substituted Arnau Ortiz. Three minutes later, the Spaniard appeared in the Espen's penalty area and went down after a slight contact. A whistle sounds, but there is no penalty, just a yellow card for a foul. Ortiz cannot believe it and tells the referee more than clearly and is sent off with a yellow-red card.
After 25 minutes of stoppage time, the final whistle sounded and the tensions rose again, with several players coming to blows. However, this did not change the outcome: St. Gallen progressed to the next round and will face Turkish club Trabzonspor in the play-offs. Unless there is a new twist and Wroclaw is successful with its announced protest. But not even the Poles believe that will happen.
