'It was in my back' - Match referee Dortmund v Bayer explains why Boniface's red card was rescinded 

Referee Daniel Siebert, the referee who officiated the Bundesliga meeting between Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday at Signal Iduna Park, has explained why the red card shown to Victor Boniface was rescinded following a VAR review. 

Newly crowned champions Bayer Leverkusen extended their unbeaten run to 45 games in all competitions following a 1-1 draw with Dortmund. 

Niclas Füllkrug broke the deadlock on 82 minutes but Bayer Leverkusen avoided defeat thanks to Josip Stanisic's equalizer in the seventh minute of stoppage time.

Shortly after Borussia Dortmund opened the scoring, manager Xabi Alonso reacted by bringing on Victor Boniface as a replacement for Piero Hincapié.

In the 89th minute, Daniel Siebert initially showed a red card to Boniface  but after consulting the VAR, he revoked the card and instead issued a yellow card to Granit Xhaka for unsportsmanlike conduct during the scuffle.

Jeremie Frimpong and Nico Schlotterbeck were also issued yellow cards for their roles in the mass confrontation.

In quotes relayed by spox.com, Siebert explained:  "It was in my back. The assistant told me that Boniface had choked the opponent and pushed him to the ground. That's why we immediately gave the red card.

“The VAR of course checked all the red cards and found that Boniface hadn’t actually done much.”

Boniface has been cautioned three times in 29 all-competition appearances since his move to Bayer Leverkusen last summer. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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