Juan Carlos Yuste Jimenez, "Juanqui", the veteran assistant referee has just retired after 23 years in the elite of Spanish football. He is the European assistant referee with the most appearances in major international tournaments: four Euros and two World Cups. He has more than 800 games as an assistant referee and has participated in five Copa del Rey finals and five Spanish Super Cups.
- Is the assistant referee well valued in football?
- The assistant referee is well valued, but he is still the "flagman" of a bullfighter. It is very important, but we must know our role. The referee is the boss, but a good assistant, like the banderillero, must know when he can help him and even save a game. A penalty that nobody sees and that can save the match. The role we have is secondary. The referee is the boss on and off the field.
- Why is your work so important?
- Because, at the end, an assistant, even being in the background, is essential. A good assistant, today with the intercoms, is giving instructions to the referee for the improvement of the match. An assistant can help a referee a lot in directing the match.
- Don't you think that VAR has taken away some functions?
- No, the VAR is doing justice. I have been going to "life or death" matches for 20 years, where you directed a match and only because of a mistake you could condition the future of a team. With the VAR you have the peace of mind that if there is something big and you make a mistake, the VAR will save you. Well used, it does justice to the world of football.
- How does an assistant prepare for a match?
- Just like a referee does. The assistants study the two teams, you know what their players are like, whether they are likely to fall into the penalty area, or if they play with the advanced defense, etc. This is something common in recent years, but when I started, I went directly to the matches. Now everything is studied to the millimeter.
- You always used the same AR flag?
- I have used the same flag for 15 years. In each game, we have a set of two flags and another one for emergency. I remember a game in Baku, in the Europa League, where I broke two flags and the fourth official told me that if I break another one, there would be no more! In the World Cup, in South Africa, I broke another flag. In addition, since the fourth official and the benches were not in front of me, the match had to be stopped to give me another flag. More than once I have had to run with a broken flag.
- Are you the assistant with the most major tournaments in Europe?
- In my 18 years I have been lucky that, when I had a big mistake, it was in the local league, in Spain. Because if you make a serious mistake in a World Cup or a big event, when you come back, there have even been cases where referees or assistants have had to leave refereeing. Obviously, my resume is there, but I don't deny that I've been lucky enough not to make big mistakes in big games because, of course, I've had many in my career.
- With which referee were you closer among those you have been working with: Megia Davila, Mejuto Gonzalez, Undiano Mallenco, Velasco Carballo or Del Cerro Grande?
- With Carlos Megia Davila, without a doubt. I was with him for eight and a half years. Carlos knew how to understand a young man who was then 23 years old, who had just risen to the First Division, being just a child. I have to thank him for knowing how to educate me. I owe him a lot because suddenly I found myself with money that I didn't have before... there were many things. I owe him half of my life.
- What was the competition that you remember most fondly?
- The World Cup in Brazil was very nice because of what it meant to be in a country considered to be the cradle of football and where we refereed the quarter-final match between Brazil and Colombia. And also Poland-Greece, the opening match of Euro 2012. Making an opening match is the most beautiful, along with the final. I was not able to make a final, but was part of this inaugural match.
- And the match?
- Without a doubt, the Cup finals. It does not matter whether it is the Champions League or the World Cup... all the Cup finals are special. And I've done five, the last one in 2018. Every time when the Spanish anthem plays, I cry. I remember the one from 2018 when Gil Manzano looked at me and said: "What's wrong with you?" I was crying like a child with emotion because I knew that it was my last cup final. Cup finals have a very special scope. It is the only event that, on the same day of the game, I go around the city to feel that atmosphere, while usually I don't go out of the hotel.
- How did a kid become an assistant referee?
- First of all, you must want to be a referee. And I started being a referee, but then in 1997 a group of assistants was created, and I decided to try it out. Initially, I didn't like it. But the things went well and, suddenly, I saw myself going from Third Regional to Second B. When I got promoted to Second Division, what I remember the most is the amount of equipment they gave me. There were days that I even went out with my friends in the tracksuit they gave me. Proud to have it.
- This last season you almost had to retire early due to a stroke. What happened?
- I remember that, when I was in the ICU, I told the doctor: "I have a game on Saturday" and he told me that he couldn't allow me to go, in addition to warning me that "I couldn't even referee again." But my body responded in an extraordinary way and what was initially a minimum of six months off ended up being only six weeks. Those were hard days, but my body reacted in an unexpected way; as the referees told me: "Your body is not normal."
- Does the age limit of 45 seem logical to you?
- Actually, there is no age limit. And I sincerely believe that if a referee is physically fit and well on the field, it doesn't matter if he is 46 or 47 years old. You have to take advantage of that experience. But I also understand that it is necessary to give opportunities to the younger referees. Look at my case, I was about to go to the World Cup and now, in just two days, I have to retire. But I understand perfectly.
- You were about to go to your third World Cup.
- Yes, we have lived through a last month of great tension waiting for FIFA to announce the final list. We went to Seville without knowing whether it was the farewell game, as it was, or the party to celebrate going to the World Cup. Sport is like that, and FIFA has decided that it should be Mateu Lahoz and not Carlos Del Cerro. And there is no other way but to accept it.
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