The former Arsenal keeper picked up a boot lost by Sejad Salihovic and tossed it backwards, where it landed on the roof of the net.

Hoffenheim coach Ralf Rangnick called Lehmann's behaviour "unsporting", but the 39-year-old claims he was acting within the rules.

"Rangnick's comments surprise me a lot," he told the Bild newspaper. "It is sad that he again seems not to know the rules and refers to me as unsporting.

"Normally the referee would have stopped the game and had to send the player from the pitch so he could put his boot back on.

"The boot lay there, representing an obstacle to a shot or a forward pass. If Rangnick watches everything so closely, like he always pretends, he would have known that I do this with all things which are in and around my area."

Lehmann added: "I can only say for myself that in 20 years I never seriously injured a player and that I again have to deal with cheap comments only because the people think they can make the headlines by using my name."