Sometimes you just have to feel sorry for him. Werders playmaker Diego is, due to his stunning technical ability, the most fouled and most heavily provoked player in the Bundesliga. In the 40th minute against Frankfurt, Diego had finally had enough and reacted strongly! There was criticism but also a lot of sympathy for the Brazilian international.
"Diego can’t behave in that manner, what he did was definitely wrong! Even if he had been fouled for the tenth time in the match", admitted general manager Klaus Allofs after the game. Werder coach Thomas Schaaf hit a similar not, saying: "There is no excuse for what he did, but, it takes two to tango."
Eintracht coach Friedhelm Funkel saw things differently and trusts his own hearing: "Diego wasn’t provoked at all, even is something was said, there are often some hefty comments made over the 90 minutes of a match. The deciding factor is that it was a clear red card offence."
"Yes, I lost my nerve and I am very disappointed that I allowed myself to be tempted into reacting the way I did - which damaged the whole team", explained a remorseful Diego after the game. "I apologise to my team and my trainer for my actions."
Thomas Schaaf commented on the one or two weeks that Werder will be without him: "We will certainly miss him but it won’t throw too much of a spanner in the works. We played well when he was out through injury and others will have to step up to fill the gap."
Playing well and getting good results - that’s the only way to go until Diego is available again.