Probably best we just file this right under ‘football oddities’.
During their hotly contested Bundesliga fixture yesterday afternoon, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkuson players were left twiddling their thumbs mid-match after an awkward situation played out between Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt and the referee.
After becoming incensed with a foul on Stefan Keissling in the build up to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s opener, Schmidt was shown his marching orders for, let’s just say, overly protesting the referee’s decision.
Only the coach refused to budge an inch.
Cue a rather strange scenario in which the officials and every one else marched off the pitch while the standoff played out.
Not that any one in the stadium had the foggiest what was going on of course….
Later the two teams re-emerged without Schmidt and the match resumed around eight minutes later. Dortmund went on to win 1-0.