Bayern and referees: 'We will always speak our minds'

Bayern Munich have defended their criticism of the referee in the last Bundesliga match and said they would not remain silent in such cases in the future either.

"As FC Bayern, we will always speak our minds and won’t let anyone silence us,” sporting dirtector Christoph Freund said.

Bayern were furious after the match last Saturday at Bayer Leverkusen where they had Nicolas Jackson and Luis Diaz sent off and goals from Jonathan Tah and Harry Kane disallowed. Honorary president Uli Hoeness named it the worst officiating he has seen in the league.

Their main anger was over the sending off of Diaz, for alleged diving which referee Christian Dingert later admitted was a mistake, and a handball incident ahead of Kane's goal.

Leaders Bayern play Union Berlin on Saturday and Union managing director Horst Heldt said he fears that referee Patrick Ittrich and his team will now be the centre of attention.

“They don’t have it easy. Because, of course, every situation is closely scrutinised and monitored. And that’s not right,” Heldt told Sky TV.

But Freund said that “we don’t share those concerns" and would act in the same way as last week again.

"There was a lot of emotion and a lot of controversial decisions made in Leverkusen. We were annoyed and we made that clear. That’s our right, and other teams do the same," he said.

"The matter is now settled; referees are an important part of football. It’s important that they are protected so they can do their job. They have their good days and their bad days.