Police officer is Bundesliga’s first woman ref
HISTORY was made in germany yesterday when Bibiana Steinhaus became the first woman to referee a Bundesliga match. The 38-year-old police officer, who has refereed in the second tier for six years, took charge of Hertha Berlin’s 1-1 draw with Werder Bremen at the Olympic Stadium.
Steinhaus, who only showed one yellow card, said: ‘i’m just relieved it’s all over. i’m looking forward to tomorrow and everything returning to normal.’
elsewhere in germany, Bayern munich suffered a shock 2-0 defeat at Hoffenheim thanks to a brace from mark Uth.
in the Spanish league, real madrid slipped four points behind arch rivals Barcelona as they drew at the Bernabeu for the second game in succession.
Barcelona punished real’s 1-1 draw with levante, in which marcelo saw red, with a 5-0 win at home against city rivals espanyol. lionel messi hit his 38th Barcelona hat-trick and £96million man Ousmane Dembele made his debut from the bench to set up a luis Suarez goal.
real Sociedad won 4-2 at Deportivo yesterday to join the catalans on top of la liga with three wins from three.
italy’s biggest spenders Ac milan came unstuck in rome as they lost 4-1 to lazio. inter milan — another club backed by chinese money — joined Juventus at the top of the table with a 2-0 win at home to SPAL, a club established by a priest in 1907 and enjoying their first Serie A action since 1968.