Former spanish ref hits out at Gil Manzano after Madrid draw: "We have too much ego"

Jesus Gil Manzano blew the final whistle of this weekend's La Liga match between Valencia and Real Madrid during a Brahim Diaz cross that Jude Bellingham headed in to win the game, but it was not valid because the referee was whistling three times just at that moment. The matter caused a huge controversy and even former referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz spoke about it on the 'COPE' channel.

"These are situations in which I think we have too much ego, there is a lot of desire to whistle on Fridays. That's what worries us. I'm not going to deceive you. I think that referees are whistling more and more for Fridays than for football, they are trying to follow guidelines and it's worrying," said the commentator for 'Tiempo de Juego' and some 'Movistar' broadcasts. He alluded to Friday because that is when the CTA evaluates the referees.

"In this case, he has been there for eleven years. It seems that he is going to be our representative at the Euro, that he has even been on the Delegate Committee of the Spanish Football Federation since 2016, which you can imagine the issues that are dealt with there. It's a question of understanding football, it's a systematic error. The regulations only let you interpret the last play for penalties, not for corners," he added.

"It's wrong if we compare the timing of the first half, which has five minutes off and, in the second half, seven were added off when Diakhaby had gone off. We saw a play that was reviewed by the VAR at 2-2. Only from the time they go to the monitor, more than 2 minutes pass or the decision of Hugo Duro's penalty. Jesus totally unnecessarily warned that that corner was the last play when he didn't have to. If he hadn't done that, nothing would have happened," he added.

"His experience is worrying, his background, he had an excellent Copa America, the whole world of football is a victim of a senseless protocol, a way of leading a group of referees that is disastrous, with a lack of empathy and humility. If we continue like this, we are going to do a lot of damage to football and, by extension, to the football industry. It doesn't matter if they go to test the semi-automatic at the Wanda, we are going to speak the same language," he said.

 

March 3, 2024