Former FIFA and La Liga referee Xavier Estrada Fernandez has opened up about a dark chapter in his career, revealing he was threatened with a ban after showing Cristiano Ronaldo a red card while he was at Real Madrid.
“When I sent off Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009, I went almost two years without refereeing any Real Madrid matches. After that match, when I got home, I received a call from the Head of the Spanish Referees Committee, Sanchez Arminio, about literally just 10 minutes after I entered my house. He told me he didn’t like what had happened, that the incident would be on the front page of every national sports newspaper, and he hinted that there would be consequences. There is a dark side of football that is unknown, or that people don’t want to know, and there are those who exploit it for other purposes. I thought it was a bit harsh because he cares about the team. He was almost 60 minutes in the box being grabbed, pulled, pushed, and obviously, he tries to get away from the defender. I think the action looks worse than what it actually is. I don’t think it’s an elbow, I think it’s a full body, but from where the camera is, it looks like an elbow. But we accept it.”
Source: Tribuna
