A NIGHT OF CHAOS
Jude Bellingham’s last-minute winner being disallowed prevented Real Madrid from earning a remarkable comeback victory.
Football and last-minute drama share a symbiotic relationship. From the point of view of a footballer, if the drama goes in one's favour, the feeling is exultation. If it goes against, one can only speculate the myriad of emotions a player feels after the full-time whistle.
For Real Madrid players, it was a sharp pang of frustration and lamenting over three lost points in the title race after their La Liga clash against Valencia.
Valencia, playing at home, was in a happy place after going 2-0 up, with goals by Hugo Duro and Roman Yaremchuk in the 27th and 30th minute, respectively.
But in the dying stages of the first-half, Vinicius Junior pulled one back with a close-distance finish. With the momentum riding high in the second-half, Vinicius bagged the equaliser in the 76th minute with a header from Brahim Diaz’s cross.
The Brazilian’s celebration indicated that he had not forgotten the barrage of racial slurs he had endured at the same venue last season, which sparked a worldwide debate about how racism still has a stronghold in global football.
With the scores level at 2-2 after 90 minutes, seven minutes were added, and this is where the drama started to unfold.
With play extending beyond seven minutes, there was jubilation in the Real Madrid camp after Jude Bellingham headed in Diaz’s cross with what seemed to be the last action of the match. But the goal did not stand as referee Jesus Gil Manzano had already blown the full-time whistle, while the ball was mid-air after Diaz crossed it.
As expected, pandemonium ensued, and Bellingham did not shy away from vociferously protesting the decision and followed Manzano off the pitch, venting his anger (above).
It resulted in the Englishman seeing a red card for dissent. Three days later, he received a two-match suspension, with Manzano saying he showed an “aggressive attitude” and was “shouting”. Manzano was also reprimanded, with the Technical Referees Committee suspending him for the error.