Bayern Munich accidentally field 12 players during Freiburg victory

Daniel Brown

Well, this doesn’t happen everyday

There was a moment of confusion in the Bundesliga on Saturday as Bayern Munich played with 12 players for around 20 seconds.

Bayern accidentally fielded 12 players on the pitch towards the end of their 4-1 thrashing of Freiburg.

The Bavarians, who were already cruising and had a 2-0 lead over their opponents, were attempting to make a substitution in the final few minutes of the Bundesliga clash.

Bayern Munich played with 12 players after a substitution mix 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ZR9uU6hKEK

— KOTE TV NG 𓃵 (@Kotetv_ng) April 2, 2022

However, a mix up occurred and the reigning champions ended up having too many players on the pitch. The bizarre numerical irregularity was eventually resolved after much confusion.

What actually happened?

After around 80 minutes, Niklas Sule was sent on in place of Corentin Tolisso, who was forced off through illness after he himself come on as a substitute.

However, the German defender came on before Kingsley Coman, who was preparing to come on for Marcel Sabitzer at the same time.

This left Bayern with 11 outfield players on the pitch, and the game was restarted and continued for a matter of seconds. The game was eventually stopped and the correct number of players was restored.

“Niki Sule came in and I noticed that nobody went off,” Freiburg defender Nico Schlotterbeck told Sky after the game.

“Then the game started again, I first counted the players and then informed the referee. If I hadn’t done that, I think he wouldn’t have noticed.”

Who was at fault for the incident?

Bayern boss Julian Nagelsmann blamed the electronic substitution board for the incident, and insisted that the away side made the effort to fix the mistake as soon as it was noticed.

Coman’s No.11 was meant to be shown on the board, however, the number 29 came up – which is a number that does not belong to any of the Bayern squad.

“It was a vague situation. Coco [Tolisso] had stomach problems and ran into the dressing room. Coman didn’t know he had to go off too and stayed on the pitch for eight to nine seconds. It was nothing game changing,” Nagelsmann told reporters.

Freiburg furious with the confusion

Although it didn’t last for long, Freiburg were left angry by the confusion.

“That was an extremely bizarre scene that I have never experienced before. Does that have an impact? I cannot judge now,” sporting director Jochen Saier said.

“The referee evaluated it for a long time, then let play continue. Will Freiburg protest? We have to calm down now and think about it.”

Bayern secured a comfortable victory thanks to goal from Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry, Kingsley Coman and Marcel Sabitzer.

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