Referee forced to give two penalties after players pick up the ball in bizarre separate incidents during same match

A REFEREE was forced to give two penalties after players from both teams bizarrely picked the ball up in separate incidents.

In the German second division, Magdeburg drew 2-2 with Greuther Furth on Sunday.

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Gideon Jung bizarrely picked the ball, thinking it was a goal-kick[/caption]

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Daniel Heber then did the same after he assumed a foul had been given on the edge of the box[/caption]

The first unusual moment of the match came with just 15 minutes on the clock to hand the hosts a spot-kick.

Furth defender Gideon Jung had a moment of madness, picking the ball up off the ground in the six-yard box after it was rolled to him by goalkeeper Nahuel Noll.

He seemingly thought it was given to him to take a goal-kick – but with the ball not having gone out of play, the ref had no choice but to hand Magdeburg a penalty.

Jung thought his blushes were spared when Noll saved the spot-kick, only for Mo El Hankouri to score the rebound.

But in crazy scenes, lightening struck twice when just after half-time Magdeburg star Daniel Heber copied Jung and picked up the ball.

He appeared to think the ref had blown for a foul on the edge of his own box – yet in fact he had not and it was therefore a clear penalty.

Ex-Bayern Munich star Julian Green stepped up and scored to make it 2-1.

And the goal inspired a Furth fightback as they fought back to earn a point.

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Fans were baffled by the incidents, with one saying: “To have this happen at all is fairly crazy to begin with, to have this happen twice within 30 minutes in the same match is completely absurd.”

Another added: “This is insane.”

Others were reminded of when Arsenal’s Gabriel got away with a similar incident in the Champions League versus Bayern Munich last year.