LONDON — All the world is swift to condemn errors by referees, yet slow to acknowledge the moments when an official contributes to an act of classical beauty by reading the momentum as well as any player.
Tobias Stieler, a 34-year-old lawyer who referees in his spare time, did that during the opening weekend of Bundesliga play. He was the man in the middle when Borussia Dortmund beat Borussia Mönchengladbach, 4-0, on Saturday.
The majority of the 81,359 fans in Dortmund’s stadium cried foul when ’Gladbach’s Lars Stindl stretched out and kicked the home team’s Julian Weigl.