Even?

Saturday, January 13. Mallorca-Celta. Cyle Larin, The Canadian forward of the Balearic team, scored in the 43rd minute of the goal that would be the final tie (1-1). Just seven minutes earlier he had already seen a yellow card for protesting. After scoring, he climbed the billboard before approaching the stands, where he celebrated the goal by hugging the fans in the front rows. The referee of the match, the Catalan Garcia Verdura, It ignores both actions, the first worthy of a warning (article 118.H of the RFEF Disciplinary Code) and the second, susceptible to it. The complaints of Rafael Benitez, Vigo coach, at the end of the crash, there was almost no echo. It is precisely because he does not train any of the considered ‘greats’ of Spanish football.

Thursday, January 18. At. Madrid-R. Madrid. Alvaro Morata scores 2-1 in the Metropolitano cup derby. He celebrates by talking to fans sitting in the first rows of the stands, whom he hugs. The referee, the Balearic (although Madrid by birth) Cuadra Fernandezhe was admonished “for rushing towards the spectators to celebrate the goal, raising security problems.”

Two identical plays, two opposite decisions. SA learnwith a standard of Cuadra Fernandez, he should have been fired for hugging fans, even though he should have been fired for climbing the billboard. For years, the sound of ‘unification of criteria’ has been one of the background melodies of Spanish football and continues to be the unfinished business of the world’s best refereeing body, according to those in charge.

A few decades ago we got tired of hearing that “when referees are professionals all problems are solved.” Now they are no longer professionals: in the light of their emoluments, they are too professional. And we continue in the same way. Even? One is afraid of eternity and beyond.