Bayern Munich’s victory over 1. FC Köln in the DFB Pokal last night came with its fair share of controversy. The first of Bayern’s four goals (Luis Diaz’s 1-1 in the 36th-minute) absolutely should not have counted as the FCB attacker was half a meter offside. Both Köln head coach and Bayern board-member-for-sport Max Eberl were in agreement that the goal should not have counted. 

“I think he [match official Tobias Welz] needs to be able to see that,” Kwasniok remarked at the post-match press conference. “That’s a problem. When one constantly uses GPS [in one’s car], one eventually stops learning how to navigate the roads and forgets about them. Similarly, when one constantly relies on VAR and then suddenly it’s not there, that influences decision making.“

Kwasniok was quick to add that, in the grand scheme of things, the decision really didn’t matter. Kwasniok stated that “sooner or later, they would have crushed us“. The Kölner head coach nevertheless did receive some unexpected support from Bayern’s chief personnel executive. Eberl echoed Kwasniok’s sentiments precisely in the mixed zone. 

“If you’re not focused on it [offside decisions] all year round, it makes decisions like this difficult,” Eberl said. “If something works, you should use it. There’s so much at stake for teams in the second round of the Pokal. I’m a friend of VAR and I think it should be used from the second round of the Pokal onwards.”