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DFB drops case against Ancelotti over gesture

Chuck Penfold
February 21, 2017

The DFB has dropped its case against Carlo Ancelotti over a rude gesture that he made to Hertha Berlin fans on the weekend. This came after the Bayern Munich coach agreed to make a donation to a charity.

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Fußball Bundesliga Bayern München - Werder Bremen Trainer Ancelotti
Image: Reuters/M. Rehle

Bayern Munich announced the resolution of the case against their head coach in a statement posted on their website on Tuesday. It said that the disciplinary committee of the German football association (DFB) had dropped its probe into the conduct of head coach Carlo Ancelotti after last Saturday's match in Berlin. In return, the 57-year-old Italian agreed to make a donation of 5,000 euros ($5,268) to the DFB foundation.

Ancelotti had admitted gesturing to a group of Hertha Berlin fans with his middle finger on Saturday, telling German public broadcaster ARD that he had done so after being spat at.

Bayern's statement said Ancelotti's gesture was an "understandable emotional reaction to being spat at."

For much of the match, Hertha had looked to be on their way to beating the defending Bundesliga champions. However, Robert Lewandowski scored an equalizer for Bayern almost six minutes into injury time, despite the fact that the fourth official had indicated that just five minutes of time-added-on should be played. This led to heated emotions on the part of the Hertha players and their fans, with head coach Pal Dardai describing the fact that the referee had allowed more than six minutes of injury time to be played as the "Bayern bonus."