The Valencia captain has been sanctioned with a four-game suspension after the preparation of an extraordinary file by the Competition Committee following statements made on April 16 after the Valencia-Osasuna match, which ended with a 1-2 victory for the Navarrese team in the Mestalla field.
In the file it is reported that he stated the following: “(…) well, it is a bit at the end the trend (…) that we have this season, they have to notify him of the very clear penalty, as is happening to us this year, that the referee he saw it and well (…) he didn’t want to whistle it, but well we’ll fight first and foremost (…) yes but well it’s business as usual, in the end the referee at half-time we came to tell him because we had seen the action and we knew it was a penalty and well, he arrives here and tells us that if he had whistled it, the VAR would have removed it because there is no contact and well, you have to swallow it like it always does, because if you say something to him like I said at the end of the game, he takes you out the yellow one without having told him anything, as I told you, it is what it is and here they do what they want (…)”.
The sanction, which the aforementioned committee considers to be imposed to a minimum degree, is accompanied by a fine of 602 euros and an appeal can be lodged against it before the Appeals Committee within a period of ten days.
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In the argumentation of the resolution it is recalled that the statements made by any person subject to sports discipline, through any means, that question the honesty and impartiality of any member of the arbitration group or of the organs of the RFEF, as well as the statements that suppose a disapproval of the activity of any member of the groups mentioned when they are made with contempt or when an offensive, insulting, humiliating or rude language is used”.
The match was directed by referee Mario Melero López, who in the section on other incidents in the reflex report on José Luis Gayá that “once the match was over and we were still on the pitch, he was reprimanded for making technical comments to me”.