The goal that went in from outside the net — and stood

The header was not close. Stefan Kiessling met a corner at the near post in the 70th minute and sent the ball wide of the post — not marginally, but clearly wide. It struck the outside of the net, passed through a hole in the side netting, and settled inside the goal. Referee Dr Felix Brych awarded it. The score became 2-0 to Bayer Leverkusen.

Brych's account of that moment is precise and worth reading as he gave it. "I had a slight doubt, but the reaction of the players was clear. Nobody said to me that the ball did not go in. For me, it's not a great situation to have given a goal that didn't exist."

He had a slight doubt. He consulted his assistants. He acted on what the players around him showed him — and none of them told him the ball had not gone in. That is not negligence or bad faith. It is how a decision gets made in real time with incomplete information, and it is why the story is more interesting than a simple error.

The match finished 2-1. Without the disputed goal, it would have finished 1-1. The two points it delivered to Leverkusen were the margin.

1899 Hoffenheim protested and asked for a replay. Sporting director Alexander Rosen called the situation "scandalous." Their coach, Markus Gisdol, was confident the protest would succeed — and he said why: "It's definitely bitter for us and something like this has already happened once, and that game was replayed so I think we're going to see this game again." He was reasoning from a real precedent. An earlier Bundesliga phantom goal had led to a replay. Gisdol had grounds for his expectation.

The case went to the DFB Sports Court in Frankfurt on 28 October 2013. The hearing lasted about 90 minutes. The protest was rejected and the result stood.

Judge Hans E. Lorenz said the tribunal had been left with "no alternative" but to uphold the original result. The reasoning was specific: Brych had at no point violated the rules. A referee who makes a factual error within his authority has not broken a law of the game. The DFB did not find the goal was valid. They found the referee had broken no rule. Those are different findings, and the difference is why the precedent Gisdol cited did not apply.

Hoffenheim were given a week to appeal further.

The element of this story that gets least attention is what Kiessling did. On his own Facebook page, he apologised publicly. "I can fully understand the reactions from many of you and I myself am absolutely gutted," he wrote. And then: "After seeing the replays on television, I can clearly see that it was not a legitimate goal."

A scorer publicly disowning his own goal is the rarest thing in this account. Brych acted on what was in front of him. Gisdol argued from a precedent that turned out not to hold. Kiessling, once he had seen the replays, said plainly that the goal should not have stood. Each decision was ordinary. The combination of them is what made this match last.