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Sport

03rd Jul 2016

The referee’s reaction to Bastian Schweinsteiger shoot-out decision is priceless

This is gold.

Simon Lloyd

When it comes to making decisions about penalties, never ever doubt a German.

Granted, Saturday night wasn’t the vintage penalty shoot-out we’ve come to know and begrudgingly expect from Germany but in the end, as per usual, they did enough.

Before the shootout had started, Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai called each captain over to centre circle. Following the flip of a coin, Bastian Schweinsteiger was given the choice of deciding the end at which the spot kicks would be taken at.

Simple you might think, given that one of the ground was jam-packed with his fellow Germans and the other contained the Italy support. But, to the surprise of many, the Manchester United midfielder opted for the Italian end of Bordeaux’s stadium.

Just look at the referee’s reaction…

“Are you sure?”

Of course he was sure. Eventually, Schweinsteiger proved that this was the right decision.

Joachim Low’s men now await the winners of France and Iceland for a place in next Sunday’s final – although given the latest news from the German camp, their hopes of  adding a European crown to the World Cup they won in Brazil a couple of years back have taken a considerable dent.

Still, you wouldn’t put it past them, would you?