‘Ugly’ quarter-final clash referee gets ‘red card’

A clear casualty has emerged from the last Friday’s feisty World Cup quarter-final clash between Argentina and the Netherlands – the officiating referee is going home.

Argentina overcame the Dutch 4-3 in a penalty shootout in a dramatic match to keep their hopes in the Qatar 2022 alive but the match will also go down in history for player clashes and referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz’s role where he dished out an incredible 15 yellow cards to the players and two more to coaching staff.

The Spanish official came in for criticism from the players of both teams including Argentine star Lionel Messi. 

After the fiery match FIFA started proceeding against the Argentine Football Association and Dutch Football Association over potential breaches of its Disciplinary Code (on misconduct of players and officials) but there was no mention the world football governing body was probing the referee in the said match. 

However, the Spanish publication COPE reported that Lahoz will not be officiating any of the remaining games at the World Cup as he “heads home from Qatar”.

It was not clear if Lahoz, 45, was in line to officiate any more matches at Qatar 2022 as FIFA usually don’t name referees for matches beforehand.

Lahoz is an experienced official having stood in La Liga matches since 2008. He also boasts a number of key international matches in his career including 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in addition to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. He also refereed the 2021 UEFA Champions League Final between Manchester City and Chelsea. 

But Lahoz, whom the Spanish press had termed as “quirky” and “eccentric” in the past, did not please the players at all on Friday although Argentina fielded a few players including Messi who have or are still playing in La Liga and are sure to have come face to face with Lahoz before.

Messi was among the players booked and he vented his frustrations in a post-match interview.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner even claimed Lahoz should not be allowed to officiate a match for the remainder of the competition.

“This match shouldn’t have ended as it did. I don’t want to talk about the referee because they sanction you, but people watched what happened,” he said.

“We were afraid before the match because we knew how he was and I think FIFA has to review this, you can’t put a referee like him for these matches.”

Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez said Lahoz was “giving everything” to the Netherlands, who came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 in 
normal time.

“It was a tricky game and I thought we controlled the game well. We went 2-0 up, we controlled the game and the referee was giving everything to them,” the Aston Villa player said.

“All of a sudden they got a good header, a good flick, which I couldn’t see and then it turned upside-down. The ref was giving everything to them. He gave 10 minutes [added time] for no reason, 10 minutes.

“He was giving free kicks outside the box for them two or three times – he just wanted them to score, that’s it.

“So hopefully we don’t have that referee anymore because he’s useless.”

Argentina’s Lionel Messi speaks to referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz at the end of the first half of their World Cup quarter-final match against the Netherlands. REUTERS

However, Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong while describing the officiating of the match as “scandalous”, claimed referee Lahoz was influenced by Messi.

De Jong agreed with Messi that the referee was not “up to the task” but he felt the presence of his former Barcelona teammate too contributed.

“When regular playing time was over, the Argentina players all went to him and from then on he only whistled for Argentina,” De Jong said of Lahoz.

“Jurrien Timber’s shoe was kicked off, but then he whistled for a foul against us. Luuk [de Jong] just wins a normal header and he blows his whistle, they kick the ball into our dugout, he doesn’t care.

“Messi takes the ball with his hand, he just lets it go. He was really scandalous.”

De Jong said Lahoz, who has been described as a “different kind of referee who just loves to be the centre of attention” by the Spanish media, though is a good referee. Usually, FIFA tries to choose the referees with the highest distinction and experience for World Cups.

“He is a nice guy, a good referee. But here he was beyond reason. I think he lost his way in overtime. It could well be that the greatness of Lionel Messi had an influence on that. It’s not the referee’s fault, but it did affect the game.”

Argentina face Croatia in the first semi-final of the World Cup today, while France and Morocco clash tomorrow for a place in Sunday’s final.