The referee who showed Atletico Madrid midfielder Arda Turan a yellow card for throwing his boot at a linesman during the Copa del Rey quarter-final on Wednesday has been suspended for two weeks.
While Turan escaped further sanction from the RFEF’s Competitions Committee, referee Gil Manzano – the man who was in charge of the Atletico-Barcelona match – will work this weekend’s game between Granada and Elche before being sidelined for two weeks as punishment for “his failure to apply the rules of the game correctly.” His assistant Angel Nevado has also been suspended for two weeks by the Referee’s Association.
Manzano is regarded as one of the top officials in Spain and is known for his hesitancy to show red cards. But the referee has received widespread criticism for his handling of Wednesday’s decisive leg of the Copa del Rey tie between the two La Liga clubs. While both teams were far from angelic, the consensus is Manzano should have handled the high-profile match better.
This suspension isn’t the Spanish referee’s first ban following a poor performance. Less than a year ago, Manzano mistakenly awarded a penalty to Athletic Bilbao during a match against Real Betis. The official was judged to have made numerous questionable decisions during that contest and was subsequently suspended for one week.
