On Saturday, Bayern thrashed Freiburg 4-1 away at the Europa-Park Stadion in Freiburg with 12 players on the field for a short period. The closing minutes of the Bundesliga duel saw an amazing mix-up.
After a brief lapse of concentration, the visitors were caught playing with 12 players for a little period of time. The finish of the game was pushed out by a significant amount of time because of that numerical abnormality.
A late Bayern replacement in the 80th minute sparked mayhem on the field during the Matchday 28 clash. Corentin Tolisso, who had himself been brought in as a replacement, was forced off the field due to injury, and Niklas Sule was sent on to fill in for him.
Bayern played with 12 players on field for 17 seconds
This left the Munich side with 11 outfielders for a brief while when Kingsley Coman, who was replaced by Marcel Sabitzer, had not yet exited the field. Before the game was paused and the proper number of players was restored, Sabitzer added a fourth goal for the visitors before the final whistle.
"Niklas Sule came in, and I observed that nobody walked off. First, I counted the participants and then notified the referee. I'm very sure he wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't done that," Freiburg defender Nico Schlotterbeck said after the game.
The Bavarians' manager Julian Nagelsmann believes the error was made by the computerized substitution boards, which the away team immediately corrected. The number 29 appeared instead of Coman's No. 11, which does not belong to any Bayern player.
