Schalke attacker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has refused to comment on his red card against Hannover amid suggestions he had been seeking to pick up a yellow card.
Huntelaar was sent off shortly before the end of Saturday's 1-0 win for a tackle from behind on Manuel Schmiedebach, and now faces the prospect of a lengthy ban, having also made an offensive gesture towards the referee, and sarcastically shaken his hand, after his dismissal.
Both kicker and Der Westen have suggested the Netherlands international had made the tackle in the hope of collecting a yellow card, which would have been his fifth of the season, so that he could serve the one-match ban during Tuesday's match with league leaders Bayern Munich. Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke had said last week that many Bundesliga clubs "just waive the points when they face Bayern now."
Following the red card, though, Huntelaar is now certain to also miss the game against fellow Champions League hopefuls Borussia Monchengladbach on Feb. 6.
The striker has not spoken to the media about the incident and the club's sporting executive, Horst Heldt, also tried to play down the matter on the club's official website, saying: "We don't need to discuss the red card."
However, he added in Der Westen: "He's not a repeat offender. He wanted to stop the attack, and needs to be more intelligent about it."
Goalkeeper Fabian Giefer said: "It looked like a tactical foul to me on the pitch but, looking at in slow-motion, it was indeed more severe -- but it was not a malicious foul. I hope that he'll back as soon as possible."
Schalke coach Roberto Di Matteo told the postmatch news conference that Huntelaar had misjudged the tackle.
"It was a foul and the referee was in a good position," Di Matteo said. "Klaas-Jan tried to win the ball back but he was unable to do that. It's obviously very disappointing as he won't be able to play for us."