ENGLAND star Jude Bellingham has made himself a hero in Germany.
The Borussia Dortmund midfielder has been fined £34,000 by the German Football Federation for his dig at referee Felix Zwayer after their 3-2 defeat by Bayern Munich on Saturday.
Bellingham claims Zwayer’s decisions were unsurprising as he was implicated in the worst match-fixing scandal in German history in 2005.
But SunSport understands that Dortmund are going to pay the fine for Bellingham as many within the club agree with his comments.
Privately among players and staff elsewhere in the Bundesliga, Bellingham is being hailed for having the bottle to speak out even though he was aged just two at the time of the scandal.
The 18-year-old was furious Zwayer did not award Dortmund a penalty in the second half before giving one to Bayern for a debatable Mats Hummels handball.
He said: “You can look at a lot of the decisions in the game. If you give a referee who has match-fixed before the biggest game in Germany, what do you expect?”
Bellingham was referring to Zwayer’s alleged role as a 23-year-old linesman in a scandal involving ref Robert Hoyzer.
Incredibly, Hoyzer confessed to taking Croatian mafia money in return for affecting the outcome of German Cup and lower-division games, including awarding penalties for fictitious offences.
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Hoyzer was jailed and Zwayer suspended for six months for keeping silent even though he knew what the ref was doing. He was also fined £250 for making dodgy decisions on the line.
Bellingham has become popular in Germany for his good nature and interesting interviews after games.
Meanwhile, Dortmund and Bayern have other problems.
For the remainder of the year, Dortmund’s crowds are limited to 15,000 and Bayern will have to play their home games behind closed doors due to Covid.
It will cost both teams around £3million per game, so don’t expect either to spend big in January.
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LEEDS director of football Victor Orta was still raging two hours after his angry gestures towards a fan at the weekend.
The combustible Spaniard had to be held back by members of the Elland Road directors’ box on Sunday after Patrick Bamford’s 95th-minute equaliser in Leeds’ 2-2 draw against Brentford.
Orta was annoyed with the criticism of the team from this particular home supporter long after the final whistle.
His point was that Leeds already had 16 points so the fans should be happy.
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NORWICH captain Grant Hanley pushed the club’s first team into spending nearly £30,000 to take £10 off the ticket price for the 2,900 fans who are travelling to Crystal Palace on December 28.
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