Club World Cup final refereeJanny Sikazwe has offered an explanation for not sending off Real Madrid centre back Sergio Ramos in Sunday's game, blaming poor communication between himself and his assistant referee.
The37-year-old Zambian official reached for his pocket to give the Real defender a second yellow cardwhen he cut down aKashima Antlers player who was breaking away in the 90th minute- a standard bookable offence - but then failed to produce a card of any colour, allowing Ramos to continue with the game.
.@SergioRamos lucky to escape CWC final red card �
READ: https://t.co/CB0eYJTvA9 pic.twitter.com/lrlUBG9WXQ
The match was level at 2-2 at the time of the incident, with Real eventually winning 4-2 after extra time, and many fans accused the referee of bottling a big decision once he realised that he had already booked the Spain international once.
However, Sikazwe has since offered a (faintly dubious, more than slightly jumbled) explanation for his actions, quoted by AS as saying:"It was just a lack of communication between my assistant referee and me. He indicated it was a foul, and said on the earpiece that there was "no card". However I understood 'with a card'. That's all it was, just a lack of understanding."
The excuse is unlikely to satisfy Kashima Antlers coachMasatada Ishii, whofumed after the game:"We created problems for Real Madrid, but these kinds of games are settled by small differences - the decisions which the players or the coaches make.
"Right from the very start of the game, my players showed bravery and played to the best of their ability. But maybe the referee, at a certain moment of the game wasn't sufficiently brave enough, and that's a shame."
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