Pep Guardiola has escaped sanction from the German FA's referee boss Hellmut Krug following his run to the corner during Bayern Munich's 1-1 draw with Schalke on Tuesday, but the Catalan coach is under closer scrutiny.
Shortly before Arjen Robben's opener, referee Bastian Dankert disallowed a Robert Lewandowski goal, and instead awarded a corner with assistant Markus Hacker signalling the ball had already crossed the byline.
Within seconds of Hacker's decision, Guardiola stormed out of his technical area and was seen talking to -- and also touching -- the assistant at the corner flag. On his way back, as Robben headed the corner home to give Bayern the lead, the coach then embraced the fourth referee Robert Kempter.
Guardiola escaped sanctions for both actions, with referee Dankert telling kicker: "That's because it was not unsportsmanlike behaviour by him and because he did not insult my assistants."
It was not the first time this season that Guardiola was seen chatting to the fourth assistant, or outside the coaching zone -- with the most prominent incident during the goalless draw at Borussia Monchengladbach in October 2014.
"Does Guardiola have a star bonus?" kicker asked on Thursday, to which Dankert replied "No, no!"
His boss, the former FIFA referee Krug, went into detail, saying: "A coach needs to respect the technical area," but added that overstepping the line does not automatically mean punishment, citing the most recent Guardiola incident "where there were no aggression involved."
But Krug hinted the Catalan coach has been put under closer surveillance, also to avoid the impression that Guardiola indeed has a "star bonus."
In a column for Focus, the former FIFA official Urs Meier has hit out at Guardiola. The 56-year-old Swiss wrote in his column that the coach's behaviour was "disrespectful... the only logical consequence is that the coach has to be sent to the stands.
"But that does not apply to Guardiola. The star coach gets a round of applause from the Munich fans and a minor warning by the fourth assistant. That's absurd!
"You get the impression that the Catalan can do whatever he wants and that he as a star bonus."
Elsewhere, Bayern's sporting director Matthias Sammer has explained that the appeal against the three-match ban for Jerome Boateng was also down to the fact that the Germany international was sent off after 17 minutes for a professional foul on Sidney Sam.
"It was effectively a threefold punishment," Sammer said on Sky Germany, referring to the penalty decision by referee Dankert. "Moreover the red card was early on in the match, and thus it means he'd be banned for nearly four games."