Antonio Mateu Lahoz is in the studio of Ziggo Sport fiercely criticized for his performance during Barcelona – Espanyol (1-1). According to Jan van Halst, the referee, who also let the World Cup quarter-final between the Netherlands and Argentina (2-2, 3-4 ns) end in a rain of cards, had no control over the heated city derby in Catalonia. “This is of course pitiful, how that man acts,” said the former midfielder.
Just like a few weeks ago at the World Cup, Lahoz was full of cards: Barcelona received ten yellow cards and one red (for Jordi Alba), Espanyol received another eight yellow cards and one red (Vinicius Souza). “You should send this man on vacation for a few weeks,” said Khalid Boulahrouz. Van Halst believes that Barcelona should also look at itself. “I stand by it: you can’t point at the referee. Barcelona had the better part of the game and should have rewarded themselves. When you are 3-0 ahead, you only laugh at decisions like this. Then you also get against a clumsy penalty, which was justified by the way… You do yourself the hassle with the referee.”
Here we go again! Lahoz gives Alba a second yellow card for talking and therefore red for the left back ?? #ZiggoSport #LaLiga #BARESP pic.twitter.com/ow57I1Yr0G
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) December 31, 2022
“He does make a mess of it, it’s laughable,” Van Halst immediately adds. “He loses cards, turns red cards back, it’s unbelievable.” With the latter, the former midfielder refers to the withdrawal of the red card for Leandro Cabrera, who clearly planted his foot on Robert Lewandowski’s head. “Yes, this is red. We can judge this, Khalid. We graduated in this,” says Van Halst with a wink, but still serious.
Boulahrouz wholeheartedly agrees. “Technically speaking, it’s just a red card. It wasn’t very hard, it doesn’t kill you, but it’s very stupid. He can just step over it, but he makes an intermediate step, wants to hit him again. That’s just red. He gives that too, but he turns back after seeing the images. But then he doesn’t even give yellow?”
Finally, Van Halst has a compliment for Frenkie de Jong, who participated in Barcelona for 82 minutes and ended the match without a yellow card. “It is great that Frenkie de Jong stayed away from everything. He seemed to have intended: I’ve been annoyed by that man so much at the World Cup…. If I even come close, I get a card.”