The fans loved it, some of the players as well, but the ruling German football body DFB was not amused about a referee showing two yellow cards simultaneously during a second division match on the weekend.
On Sunday, referee Thomas Metzen dug deep into his shirt pockets and threw up his hands with a yellow card in each one to book Mainz 05 player Miroslav Karhan und St Pauli Hamburg's Florian Bruns, reported dpa.
News reports on Tuesday said that Metzen has received a warning from the DFB and was told never to do this again. He reportedly escaped further sanctions and told the Bild daily that "it was a mistake."
Showing two yellow cards at the same time is not officially forbidden, but the DFB referee observer Hellmut Krug told Bild that "the referee is not responsible for the show aspect.
"Metzel has done himself and all other referees harm," Krug said.
Some players felt reminded of a western movie while others simply named Metzen's action "efficient."
But Mainz general manager Christian Heidel said: "This is beyond my comprehension. First he doesn't give two clear penalties and then he makes such a show out of two yellow cards." dpa jb