“Willful bodily injury” — Hoeneß outraged by red-card foul on Rafinha

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeneß left the stands after Bayern’s 3-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen and immediately took to the microphone, where he freely expressed his outrage over the foul committed by Karim Bellarabi on left-back Rafinha. Bellarabi tackled Rafinha from behind, studs up, catching him full on the back of the leg and possibly injuring his ankle. Rafinha could not continue and left the match with the assistance of the medical team. Bellarabi was shown a straight red card.

Hoeneß did not mince words (Kicker):

The foul by Bellarabi, of course, was insane. That’s willful bodily injury (Vorsätzliche Körperverletzung)! Something like that deserves a three-month suspension — for stupidity. You just don’t do that, especially not at the halfway line, where there’s nothing at stake.

Niko Kovac echoed Hoeneß’s verdict, stating that the foul not only warranted a red card, but “a double-red. A foul on the plant leg is always dangerous; you can’t react” to protect oneself (FCBayern.com).

Despite Bellarabi’s tackle on Rafinha, Hoeneß felt that Leverkusen had not played excessively physically:

You can’t accuse Leverkusen of playing too physically today. Nobody is to blame for Tolisso’s injury. That’s why I think — in contrast to the Hoffenheim game on matchday 1, when the opposing team at times played with the intent to injure — that we did not see such behavior today.

The team has not released any official diagnoses, but the prognosis looks bleak for Tolisso. While Kovac declined to comment, Hoeneß candidly stated, “It doesn’t look so good for Tolisso; everything points to an ACL (injury).”