Hwang Hee-chan of Germany's FC Schalke 04 has directly addressed the recent controversy surrounding his attitude after he shoved a referee and a club medical staff member during a match.

Hwang explained his actions in an interview with the press following the match against RB Leipzig held on October 31 local time.

Regarding the situation at the time, Hwang explained, "When I asked the fourth official why it wasn't a foul, he approached me too closely with an aggressive attitude," adding, "I only pushed him away to keep him from getting any closer, and it was not an aggressive act."

Previously, Hwang started in the DFB-Pokal match against Dynamo Dresden on October 29, which ended in a 0-2 defeat.

During the match, Hwang went down after competing with an opposing defender, and when the referee did not call a foul, he strongly protested the decision.

In addition to this, Hwang expressed frustration when instructed to wait outside the pitch for one minute.

In the process, he was captured shoving both the club physiotherapist who tried to calm him down and the fourth official, earning a yellow card from the referee and facing fierce criticism from local media.

Mopo pointed out that "Hwang completely lost his mind on the touchline," while Bild criticized, "It was behavior where he would have nothing to say even if he had been sent off."

As the controversy grew, manager Miron Muslic and the club leadership also sternly pointed out Hwang's behavior, but because Hwang acknowledged his mistake and apologized to the entire squad, no separate disciplinary actions such as a suspension were imposed.

Having secured an immediate opportunity to start without disciplinary action, Hwang played 83 minutes in the subsequent league match against RB Leipzig, but failed to record a single shot and received the lowest rating on the team from local media.

Hwang, who left Wolverhampton Wanderers to join Schalke in September, has yet to score a goal in six official matches.

Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Kihyun Kim | Design by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News