Rudi Voller: Unhappy standard of officials in Germany

Bayer Leverkusen director of sport Rudi Voller was critical of the standard of Bundesliga refereeing after a total of 10 yellow cards and two red were shown in his club's 0-0 draw at Freiburg on Saturday.

Leverkusen were reduced to 10 men after less than half an hour when Emir Spahic was sent off before Freiburg's Pavel Krmas followed 12 minutes from the end.

"I had a relaxed chat with (referee) Felix Brych and told him that our FIFA referees in Germany are always too quick to show yellow cards," Voller told Sport1.de.

"He's an excellent referee, but the first red card shouldn't have been given, and so shouldn't the second one."

Losing Spahic did not seem to take its toll on Leverkusen, though, with Roger Schmidt's side seemingly performing better with a man less.

"We talked after the Wolfsburg game about how we can deal with situations like this better," said the Leverkusen coach, whose side were beaten 4-1 by the Wolves after receiving a red card in the seventh minute.

"I don't think you can play much better with a man less than we did, it's just frustrating that we didn't reward ourselves with a win."

Schmidt does not expect the hour of additional effort with only 10 men will have any after effects when Leverkusen face Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday.

"It's a good sign that the team is in good shape physically," he said. "The energy levels are full and that's good to know ahead of such an important game."