"Don't know what the VAR does for a living": huge anger at FSV Mainz 05

Stefan Posch could not make head nor tail of it, even though he had not yet seen the much-discussed incident.

"I don't know what the video referee does for a living, but today he apparently wasn't looking," said the FSV Mainz 05 centre-back. For him, Bayer Leverkusen's Jarell Quansah's goal (55), after striker Patrik Schick had earlier got the ball on his hand, was a "decisive point".

Posch said after the 4-3 (2-2) home defeat against the Werkself that it had "clearly" been a punishable offence. He admitted he needed to "look at it again, but from what I heard, he takes the ball very advantageously for himself. If that isn't handball, I don't know what it is." As Schick tried to control it, the ball bounced from his stomach directly on to his hand and from there to Quansah, who first saw his shot saved and then headed in the rebound.

Speaking about referee Max Burda, Posch said he had not spoken with him, "but he said to Nadiem Amiri it was not handball". The offence, it seemed, had not been judged to have taken place immediately before the goal. "I was told that if the goalscorer had played the ball with his hand, it would probably have been one," said Mainz sporting director Niko Bungert: "That being the case, it would probably have been a legitimate goal under the rules." Even so, it was "very bitter and feels unfair".

After protesting on the touchline following the goal and during the VAR review, Mainz coach Urs Fischer avoided the debate after the match. "I shouldn't speak about the referee today," said Fischer, and instead looked for the reasons within his own side: "Our performance today was simply not good enough, so we need to talk about the mistakes we made today."