Referee Siebert highlights Adeyemi's sportmanship in Dortmund victory

Referee Daniel Siebert has praised Karim Adeyemi for a fair-play gesture during Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 win over VfL Wolfsburg.

With Wolfsburg’s Patrick Wimmer in pain, Adeyemi chose to play the ball out of bounds instead of launching a counterattack, despite not being instructed to do so by the referee.

Speaking to DAZN after the game, Siebert highlighted the gesture and said he would like to see more of this in professional football.

“I want to use this moment because it’s not very common in professional football to see such a great fair-play action. In the first half, Adeyemi got the ball on the right wing when Wimmer twisted his ankle. Normally, a player would take the chance, run towards goal, and create an overload situation,” said Siebert. 

“The Wolfsburg players would have been furious if Dortmund had taken advantage of the injury and scored. Then I would certainly have had to manage a confrontation. But Adeyemi understood what had happened, deliberately played the ball out, and said he didn’t want to benefit from an opponent’s injury.

“This is not something you see every day in professional football. I think it’s fantastic. We will certainly note and praise it in our report. I’d love to see more of this, dear professionals!”

Adeyem scored the winner in Dortmund’s 1-0 victory.