One day after Borussia Dortmund's 1-1 draw at VfL Bochum, referee Sascha Stegemann admitted a mistake that could have been decisive for the game and described his discomfort with his own performance. "When things go the way they did yesterday, you take it home with you. Then you take it to bed with you. You ask yourself a lot of questions. You turn from left to right. You stare at the ceiling," said the 38-year-old on Saturday at the pay-TV channel Sky: "That's why the whole thing is still very much in my bones. I'm not just a football referee, I'm also a footballer and, above all, a human being."

Previously, the DFB had also admitted a mistake by the referee after the fierce criticism of Dortmund officials on the refereeing team. Commenting on the unpunished foul by Bochum's Danilo Soares in the penalty area on national player Karim Adeyemi, a statement published on Saturday said: "He doesn't play the ball, instead only hits the opponent and brings him down. That's a foul and therefore a penalty, as the TV pictures show."

Stegemann also said that with a time gap and after looking at the television images, he was now sure that the Bochum player's boarding against Adeyemi had been "a clear penalty". "Accordingly, there should have been a penalty for Borussia Dortmund."

His perception on the pitch, however, was "that Adeyemi put his foot out and tried to initiate contact and look for the penalty for a while, and then fell over the Bochum defender". Video assistant Robert Hartmann had examined the action and had come to the conclusion "that it is not a clear and obvious wrong decision".

However, the head referee would have liked to receive a hint afterwards so that he could watch the duel again in the review arena. "But in Cologne, there are people who make mistakes just like we do on the pitch."

Dortmund coach Edin Terzic and sporting director Sebastian Kehl had complained above all that Stegemann had not watched this situation and other controversial scenes again in the video on Friday evening. "The expectation must remain that such processes will be correctly decided by the referee on the pitch without the need for support from the video assistant," wrote the German Football Association on its homepage.

No hand penalty: understandable

Stegemann can understand the anger and emotional statements of Terzic and Kehl: "Borussia Dortmund has the chance to win the German championship again after several years. When things go the way they did last night and there is no justified penalty, then you feel a bit and can understand that emotions are running high."

Dortmund were also upset about two other situations. Before Bochum's 1-0 win, they had seen a foul on BVB midfielder Emre Can. The DFB did not comment on this scene. In addition, Borussia had demanded a penalty after VfL defender Erhan Masovic got the ball on his arm in the penalty area.

The sporting director of DFB Schiri GmbH commented on the situation as follows: "The defender tries to block a shot with his right leg ahead. However, the ball goes against the left leg and over the upper body to the left upper arm, which in this sequence of movements is not classified by the referee as an unnatural enlargement of the body area, but as a natural movement to support the body in the falling movement. This assessment of the incident by the referee is understandable from the point of view of the TV images." So the defensive behaviour was not a hand penalty.