Referee are usually seen as a figure of authority, who are tasked with the duty of officiating a match, they’re usually four officials according to the rules that govern the game, which includes the referee, two assistant referees, and the fourth official, the main referee has full authority and is aided by other officials in enforcing the ‘Law of The Game’.
During the early days of football, before referees were introduced, football teams relied on the spirit of fair play and good sportsmanship to keep the game going smoothly, as the disputes began to escalate during the 1860s and 70’s thereabout, officials were introduced to enforce the law, but it wasn’t until 1881 that objective and authoritative official, ‘The Referee’ began to be in charge of matches.
Ever since referees are introduced into the game, football managers and players have been in tandem with each other on the pitch, when things don’t go the way of the managers or players, referees are constantly criticized for making mistakes in a game.
More so, one thing about referee is that managers or players rarely praised them after a game, as such when they make mistakes or have a poor day, they’re often time called out to be controversial or biased.
The abuses referees received from the managers-players in a game are often verbal abuse or threat from fans when they make a call that doesn’t favor a team, in regards to that, we’ve seen referee and a player face off in disagreement for a decision that doesn’t favor the team or player.
In other words, meet ‘Gerard Pique & Gil Manzano’ A player and a referee who are bitter adversaries
To start with, I do not think there is any football enthusiast that doesn’t know who Gerard Pique is, the 33 years old is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a center back for Barcelona, in Spain, he also represented ‘La Furia Roja’ 102 times, making his debut in 2009.
Pique is considered to be one of the best defenders in the world, having played an integral part in Spain triumph at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012 which they won respectively.
As for the referee, the 36 years old Jesus Gil Manzano, is also a Spanish football referee who officiates in the Spanish Primera Division, made his La Liga debut in 2012 in a game between Malaga and Real Madrid, Manzano also officiated in the 2013-14 Copa Del Rey quarter-final game between Racing Santander and Real Sociedad, where Racing refused to play after one minute into the match.
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Past meeting between Pique’s Barcelona and Gil Manzano has always been an inhospitable relationship, and Pique has never been impressed by the officiating decisions of Manzano which the Catalan side believes, he has allegedly always been in favor of Real Madrid in recent time, and among those who have been very vocal and often shown is frustration is the Barcelona center-back.
Gil Manzano has officiated Barcelona match 23 times, with 15 wins for the Catalan side, five draws, 3 defeats, and 6 red cards, prior to Barcelona match between Athletic Bilbao, Pique insinuated that referees were favoring Real Madrid, and to corroborate that assertion Los Blancos were involved in a controversial win in their match between Real Sociedad last week Sunday.
“From what we’ve seen in the last two matchdays, it will be difficult for Real Madrid to drop points.” -Pique
On Tuesday, Manzano was appointed to be in charge of the match between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, which looks like a match that could bring back past memories of Barcelona matches which ended in a tensed situation which he has officiated, matches that have seen Pique and Manzano been at the center of attention this season was Barcelona visit to the Anoeta, home turf of Real Sociedad.
The match between the two teams ended in a draw, in that regard a formal letter of complaint was sent to the President of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, about the decision not to consult the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
Albeit Manzano wasn’t the referee in charge of the match. It was Javier Alberola Rojas when Pique was pulled down in a similar case to the penalty that was awarded to Real Sociedad when Busquets did a similar thing, but it was Manzano that took the blame of the complaints due to his past controversial records with the Catalan.
The controversial event at the Anoeta won’t be the first time Gil Manzano would be at the center of controversy, specifically when in charge of the Barcelona match, and in this regard Pique was involved in a heated discussion with the referee in the 2018-19 campaign after he sent off Clement Lenglet in a match against Girona, as Pique felt Manzano’s decision was unfair and remarked: “That, it’s clearly not a red card“.
Prior to Lenglet controversial sent off, Manzano has sent off Dani Alves in 2015, Neymar and Luis Suarez in 2017, the reason why the Catalan center-back has always been very skeptical about his decisions, which came to the fore in 2017 when Pique took his complaint to the social space on Twitter, about his decisions in a 3-2 win for Real Madrid against Villarreal.
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Referees are usually talked about a lot, as such Gil Manzano has always been allegedly accused to be controversial and biased when he makes decisions that don’t seem to go down well with players or managers.
However, despite the controversial tag on him, he had done something you don’t often see in the past, but commendable when he apologized on several occasions to the Valencia players when he made a mistake in a match between Valencia and Barcelona.
Albeit, the Mestalla fans criticized him heavily, because if he hadn’t made the mistake, it could have been a scoring opportunity for them, but then the mistake occurred and he apologized four times, surely the mistake will still be talked about, but Manzano will be praised for admitting his error in that match.
For Gil Manzano to stay clear of what Pique perceived him to be, first off there is a need for him to be up and doing, and specifically, he should note that there should be no need to justify decisions, the relationship between him and the players should be a kind of quasi-friendship.
Once football referees make a decision, players and managers should accept the decision and back off, whether they felt the decision is right or wrong, allowing players to encroach a referee after each decision it’s an indictment on it own to the game of football. And there is a need for the referees to also be more professional in handling their officiating properly to avoid unnecessary accusation, heat, and confrontation in the future.
