Soccer live The referee, who did not watch the replay of Elche Cadiz`s offside goal, apologized: I apologize to the club and its fans. I was wrong, there can be no other interpretation

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The video assistant of the match Cadiz - Elche apologized for his mistake.


Javier Iglesias Villanueva worked as a VAR in the 17th round of the Spanish Championship between Cadiz and Elche (1:1). In the 81st minute, Elche striker Ezequiel Ponce scored a goal, although he was offside at the time of the assist.


Villanueva ignored the request of side referee Guadalupe Porras Ayuso to check the episode, and chief referee Carlos del Cerro Grande allowed the goal.


Marca published Villanueva`s open letter.


After what happened in the Cadiz-Elche match in the 17th round of La Liga, and the avalanche of comments, criticism and reasoning that followed, I felt the need to write this letter to express my feelings. To pronounce these words is both simple and difficult, obvious and painful: I made a mistake.


I don`t want to use hackneyed and well-worn reasoning to say something like: We all make mistakes, players and coaches make mistakes too. I prefer to write absolutely sincerely about how I feel, without playing the victim, because I hate it.


I feel anger, irritation, pain and annoyance at myself for making a mistake.


And I`m sorry that this error serves to denigrate and criticize the work being done by the Technical Referee Committee (CTA) and all my fellow referees.


Professionalism, honesty, exactingness and self-criticism are the only way to understand our profession.


I am sorry that my wrong decision caused damage to Cadiz, and I apologize for this to the club analyzed by 11livestream and its fans, who have always treated me with great respect.


I`m sorry that the integrity and independence of arbitrators and their decisions are being questioned every weekend, almost daily. Since I have been in this profession, I have never received accusations of any kind in this regard.


Doubts about this create an atmosphere of distrust and tension, which makes progress in our profession impossible. I don`t think anyone in Spanish football deserves that.


I regret and do not understand why this episode was used to discuss and criticize other issues related to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), which have nothing to do with the mistake I made.


I am a judge and my only interest is to improve and try to do my job well, just like any other employee in any company.


I am an athlete and I accept failure. In this case, the mistake was mine, no one else`s. The CTA provides us with the tools we need to do our best work, and we need to make decisions. I was wrong, there can be no other interpretation.


Finally, I am not in favor of referees talking about the game or explaining mistakes, but certainly due to the exceptional nature of this situation, the fans deserve it.


I lost the most in this story, but no one can question the integrity of the Spanish arbitrators or my own after so many years of professional work, the arbitrator said in a letter.






The referee, who did not watch the replay of Elche Cadiz`s offside goal, apologized: I apologize to the club and its fans. I was wrong, there can be no other interpretation Soccer live - more details and information: Soccer live

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