Card-happy Referee Dumped in Weekend Games 

FIFA World Cup referee, Antonio Mateu Lahoz, has been shown the red card by Spanish football authorities after he dished out an astonishing 35 cards in his last three games.

The referee who is equivalent of trigger-happy Nigerian policeman who goes shooting people at will, has not been given a game for this weekend’s matches and is also not one of those chosen video-assisted referees (VAR) after his last two matches in Spain, coming off the back of his 17-card salvo in the Argentina v Netherlands game in Qatar.

Lahoz went on to book 15 and send two off in the Catalan derby last weekend and then in the Spanish Cup in midweek he sent off Sevilla coach Jorge Sampaoli after just 16 minutes – flashing a yellow, and then a second yellow two seconds later.

Lahoz is one of Spain’s most distinguished referees. He was famously adored by Jose Mourinho when he coached Real Madrid, and disliked in equal measure by Pep Guardiola. 

His willingness to let play flow without constant interruptions for fouls given for every tackle won him support from those in Spain who were demanding a more English style of refereeing.

He was awarded the 2021 Champions League final between Chelsea and Manchester City and praised for his performance. But since then he has taken his fondness for dialogue to extremes and there are complaints in La Liga that his over-communicative style breaks up play too much – overriding the characteristic he was originally lauded for: an ability to keep a game flowing.

Lahoz misses a huge programme of matches, which includes Barcelona visiting Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid playing at Villarreal. He would usually have been assigned one of the big clashes but instead will watch from home.

The decision is likely to have been based on his performance in the Catalan derby seven days prior when he also gave a straight red card to Espanyol defender Leandro Cabrera and then over-ruled himself when he consulted VAR, and when he sent off Jordi Alba having, according to Barcelona players, shown him a yellow having forgotten he had already cautioned him.