Referee admits penalty call given to Bayern Munich vs. Augsburg was a mistake

German outfit Augsburg were left fuming after losing to Bayern Munich as a result of a controversial penalty, but the Bavarian side can find some peace after the referee who made the game-changing call admitted his staff made a mistake.

Thomas Muller scored from the penalty spot in the 90th minute to give his team a 2-1 win over Augsburg, but the call itself drew the ire of the opposition.

The referee awarded the spot kick after Bayern winger Douglas Costa went down in the box for running into Augsburg defender Markus Feulner. It appeared to be Costa's fault but the referee pointed to the spot, a decision he later confessed was a mistake.

"If something happens on the pitch and the linesman sees it, he has to give me a signal," referee Knut Kircher said after the match. "In this case, the linesman was convinced it was a foul. I could only see the situation from the corner of my eye, so I had to rely on my assistant's decision.

"We have now seen the footage and I must admit he got it wrong, so I got it wrong as well, because I am the one in charge," Kircher said. "It does not give Augsburg any points, but we are sorry. Our decision was the wrong one."

Augsburg will, of course, feel hard done, and team manager Markus Weinzierl made sure Kircher was well aware of his penalty-call error, confronting the referee following the end of the match.

Afterwards, Weinzierl lamented the result, saying his club "would have deserved a point." He added, "The lads did a great job and I'm sorry for every one of them."