“You [Gladbach] can advanced into the cup semi-final in an embarrassing and humiliating way.” – Mats Hummels, Borussia Dortmund.

“Referee Brych is the only person in Germany to see a penalty. Unbelievable! Unbelievable!” – Hertha Berlin coach Michael Skibbe.

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If you haven’t been paying attention to the wider European football scene this season, probably the fiercest title race is playing out in Germany.

All the teams in the top four – in the current order of Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Schalke and Borussia Monchengladbach – are separated by just three points, and it is a coin toss to guess who’ll be claiming the Bundesliga crown.

The competitiveness of the league is also mirrored in the cup. This week witnessed the quarter-finals of the DFB Pokal, in which minnows Greuther Furth joined Dortmund, Munich and Gladbach in a juicy semi-final line-up.

Gladbach’s progression however was mired in controversy.

Playing away at Herta on Wednesday night and with the nets empty in the 99th minute, visiting forward Igor de Camargo took a disgraceful, theatrical tumble in the Berlin box after home defender Roman Hubnik had got a little too frisky with his nose.

After Hubnik, stupidly, stuck his schnoz in de Camargo’s forehead following a nothing-coming-together between the pair, the Gladbach attacker hit the deck like a baby. Amazingly. he only did he coaxed the ref into sending the defender off, but also into awarding a penalty.

Watch Igor de Camargo’s sad and profitable play-acting here.