Kramaric admits embellishment on crucial foul call: "I had to be clever."
Andrej Kramaric allowed himself some leeway when commenting on the soft foul he drew in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Bayern.
The Croatian International produced a piece of technical brilliance on the free-kick equalizer, but acknowledged that the foul preceding the dead ball contained some "sleight of foot."
Andrej Kramaric's stunning free-kick equalizer in Saturday's 1-1 draw with league-leaders FC Bayern München was truly second-to-none. The Croat marksmen bent a curling effort over the Bayern wall. FCB keeper Yann Sommer remained powerless at full stretch at his far post. Though many in the German football punditry may disagree, it's debatable as to whether Manuel Neuer would have been able to stop it.
The Croatian International produced a piece of technical brilliance on the free-kick equalizer, but acknowledged that the foul preceding the dead ball contained some "sleight of foot."
The dead-ball opportunity arose from a foul ruled by match official Bastian Dankert on Kramaric by Thomas Müller on the edge of the area in the 69th. Müller protested the call relatively calmly, but still clearly shook his head in disbelief. Contact - replays confirmed was actually initiated by Kramaric - remained minimal.
Kramaric addressed the incident in his post-match interview. The 31-year-old even went so far as to admit that it was a "minor foul". As to whether he might have owed Müller an apology for going to ground, however, Kramaric wasn't going to go that far.
"Thomas knows how football goes," Kramaric told Sky, "when you feel a little contact in a dangerous area and it's an opportunity for a goal, one sometimes has to be smart and clever. That's why I took the fall."