Athletic meets his ghosts again at the Camp Nou. If the great objective is to win again in the Barcelona fiefdom, something that has never happened with Simeone, the mattress squad will also have to control themselves against a Gil Manzano who on several occasions has driven the rojiblancos out of their wits.
Although it is true that in the last precedent there was no controversy, with Atlético’s victory by 1-4 in Cádiz in a very calm match, already in the first game of the season that they saw the faces with the Extremadura referee ended with the athletic indignation. Gil Manzano expelled João Félix against Athletic after the protests of the Portuguese in a play where Vencedor had grabbed him by the shirt when he was leaving at speed and it was the striker who was reprimanded for hitting the defender’s face with his arm.
“Crazy”, said João Félix after understanding that it was incomprehensible that the first offender did not receive punishment and he did, with which his yellow was transformed into a new reprimand that led to a red and two sanction matches. The Wanda Metropolitano was on fire and ended with a thunderous whistle after the referee signaled the end of the match when Carrasco ran on the counterattack with no defenders in between. Savic took the floor at the end of the duel. “You can’t talk to the referee, it’s not normal for him to take 15 cards for each word”. And Carrasco was not far behind: “I agree, every time we want to talk, there is no dialogue.”
Simeone himself alluded to the referee’s sensitivity. “It is an episode that happens to any footballer, the referee understood that he had to expel him, surely if the gesture was made by another footballer he would not understand the same (…) Jesús is a great referee, last year we played matches with him and, depending on the day, the sensitivity generates different occasions depending on how you see it”. And it is that the relationship between Atlético and Gil Manzano has been crooked from afar. Perhaps the greatest controversy arose at the Camp Nou itself in the 2018-19 season, when Simeone’s team was looking for a victory that would put them in the middle of the fight for the championship.
However, in the 27th minute of a goalless match, the referee turned and He showed Diego Costa a direct red card for telling him, according to the minutes: “I shit on your fucking mother.” In addition, he indicated that the striker grabbed him by the arms so that he would not show any more cards to his teammates. Finally, Costa was banned for eight games, four for each of the actions, which prevented him from playing again that season. Atlético ended up falling and saying goodbye to its starting battering ram and any chance of fighting for the title.
It was not the only controversy in matches against Barça. In January 2015, he led the Copa del Rey match after the 1-0 win over Barcelona at the Camp Nou. The game was 2-2 (with Atlético’s second goal achieved through a penalty whose infraction had occurred outside the area) and in minute 44 Griezmann finished off a ball inside the area that It did not become 3-2 due to a clear hand by Jordi Alba that should have been sanctioned as a penalty and expulsion. Gil Manzano let the action continue and on the counterattack Neymar scored 2-3. Without VAR, the Atlético players ate the referee and Simeone’s team came out with ten in the second half. The protests had led to a direct red card for captain Gabi in the locker room tunnel. Then Arda Turan lost his temper protesting a foul where his boot had been removed and throwing it directly at the linesman. Something that Gil Manzano left in yellow when it should have led to the expulsion.
Diego Costa protests to Gil Manzano after being sent off at the Camp Nou.
FERRAN ZUERAS (DIARY AS)
More recently, last year, Atlético felt offended again when LaLiga was played. Sevilla took the three points at the Sánchez Pizjuán and Acuña scored the only goal of the match in a play that started with a flagrant handball by Ocampos that the referee did not indicate and from the VAR they did not call him to see it, since, although it favored the recovery of Sevilla, it did not occur immediately before the goal, which was made from several passes. Shortly after the goal, which ultimately reduced the rojiblanca advantage over their pursuers, Diego Carlos cut with his hand a very good shipment to space from Correa for Suárez and Despite the fact that Gil Manzano decreed the foul, he did not show the second yellow card to the Brazilian, something that outraged the Uruguayan, who was reprimanded. Suárez, Llorente and Kondogbia received a yellow card that prevented them from playing the following day against Betis due to suspension.
Total, Gil Manzano has expelled Diego Costa, Gabi and João Félix for their protests and has a long history of controversy with the rojiblancos. Of course, in Barcelona they also have a history with the same referee. The Extremaduran is the only referee who has taken the red to Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez, now a mattress, while they played with the Barça shirt. The first controversy of the great duel next Sunday is already served since the arbitration designation.