Can Woltemade play?
VfB Stuttgart defends itself against yellow-red lock
VfB Stuttgart defends itself against yellow-red lock
April 14, 2025, 1:31 p.m.
Nick Woltemade flies off the field in the game against his ex-club Werder Bremen. But the yellow-red has an aftermath. VfB Stuttgart makes an objection to the decision of referee Daniel Schlager. That was successful before.
VfB Stuttgart takes action against the yellow-red map of its attacker Nick Woltemade and the associated lock for the game in the Bundesliga on Saturday at the 1st FC Union Berlin. “The reason for the objection is that there was an error from the referee,” said a message from the German runner -up. According to VfB, referee Daniel Schlager himself “described his decision as wrong”.
The Stuttgart CEO Alexander Wehrle had already reported on the Sunday after the game that Schlager had told him that the dismissal was a wrong decision. He therefore announced that the VfB managers will “do everything” to prevent a lock. Due to the statement of Schlagers, it is assumed that Woltemade will not be blocked for the upcoming league game at Union Berlin (April 19).
Woltemade, the Swabians’ vertical starters, flew off the square in 1-2 against his former Werder Bremen club after 65 minutes – a much discussed decision. The U21 international initially saw the first yellow card after a duel with Niklas Stark (49th). He had hit his opponent with his arm on his face.
VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß said that this warning was “probably justifiable”. But he also referred to the size difference of the two players: “It is also not that the other player goes to the header in any form and it is also that Nick is 1.98 meters tall – with an equally large player it is shoulder on shoulder, the elbow was not extremely high now.”
“Fader aftertaste”
The second card then caused great discussions. After 65 minutes, Woltemade was involved in a duel with Marco Friedl and Mitchell Weiser and touched the SVW professional Weiser on the ankle with the SVW professional. This is “simply not a yellow-red card”, says Hoeneß, referee Schlager “simply intervened in the game. The game turns and in our view it is very bitter that there was a big wrong decision. This has a thread aftertaste.”
At the end of the season, the Swabians conceded the second goal of Oliver Burke and lost the game outnumbered. The Bremeners also wondered about the dismissal. Leonardo Bittencourt spoke of a “hard decision”, even the fouled himself showed himself skeptical: “It was definitely a foul,” said Weiser: “But the referee was a bit strange anyway. I didn’t like it so well.” Werder coach Ole Werner said: “It’s not necessarily yellow-red.”
All of this could play the Stuttgart in the cards. They already have experience with such a case: in autumn they prevented an impending yellow-red lock by captain Atakan Karazor. This had been put off the pitch against VfL Wolfsburg – incorrectly, as was granted afterwards.
