Leverkusen’s CEO Fernando Carro was really furious after the final whistle of yesterday’s match between the Werkself and Mainz. So much so, in fact, that he couldn’t resist asking in the corridors after the game, in front of numerous bystanders: “Where is Stieler, that idiot?”
He was reportedly on his way to the referee’s dressing room to get an explanation from Tobias Stieler himself about a very specific scene in the match. This is according to ‘kicker’.
The situation in question occurred just before the visitors from Mainz took the lead. Dominik Kohr wrapped both arms around Leverkusen’s striker Patrik Schick in the penalty area. From the perspective of many Bayer fans and even neutral observers, a penalty would have been the only logical consequence. However, Stieler’s whistle remained silent, and instead the 05ers took the lead on the counterattack (45.+4).
📸 Christof Koepsel - 2026 Getty Images
After his clarifying conversation with “idiot” Stieler, Carro explained to the media, according to the ‘kicker’ report, that for him it was a “clear penalty,” but ultimately he did defend the referee. He said Stieler may have had a poor view of the scene, but the VAR should have penalized the foul, Carro added.
Why didn’t that happen? According to the Spaniard, Stieler explained to him that it was 50:50, a mutual tussle. That’s why the assistants in the VAR room didn’t intervene either.
According to the report, Carro’s own team didn’t fare much better in his assessment. On his way through the corridors, he cursed in Spanish (specifically, he said according to his own account that Leverkusen needed to “wake up” in Spanish) and commented accordingly on the Werkself’s performance, who at least managed to equalize late in stoppage time and thus limited the damage: “We didn’t put in a good performance, especially in the first half.”
If he were in the dressing room, he would flip out, Carro added.
We think we can take him at his word on that.
At least: Anyone who had a bad day yesterday can now say with near certainty: The Leverkusen CEO’s was even worse.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.