Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham launched an audacious verbal attack on German referee Felix Zwayer, bringing up the official's match-fixing records. The Yellow and Blacks felt hard done by when Zwayer awarded a 77th-minute penalty for a handball by Mats Hummels that led to a 3-2 loss in Saturday's 'Der Klassiker' fixture.
Amidst claims of other controversial calls by the FIFA-accredited referee, Dortmund fell to Bayern at the Signal Iduna Park in a hotly contested game. The victory opened up a four-point gap between Julian Nagelsmann's side and Marco Rose's Dortmund at the top of the Bundesliga.
In the aftermath of the match, Bellingham pulled no punches as he launched an astonishing attack on the centre referee, bringing up his record of match-fixing.
The English midfielder told ViaPlay after the match: "For me it wasn't, you know he's [Hummels] not even looking at the ball and he's fighting to get it. It hits him, I don't even think he is looking at the ball but you know, you can look at a lot of the other decisions in the game."
Bellingham then zeroed in on the referee's past conduct, bringing up match-fixing records from 2005. According to the 18-year-old, a referee with such a record should not be officiating the biggest match in the Bundesliga.
"You give a referee that, you know, has match-fixed before the biggest game in Germany, what do you expect?" Bellingham said.
Referee Zwayer was in 2005 found guilty of accepting a €300 bribe from 2. Bundesliga referee Robert Hoyzer to influence proceedings in favour of German minnows Wuppertaler SV. Zwayer and three other officials plead guilty to their actions and have since served punishment for it.
While Dortmund coach Rose was shown a yellow card for protesting the penalty decision during the match, it is expected that Bellingham will be sanctioned for his comments towards the referee.