The referee who granted Once Caldas a controversial penalty to Boyaca Chico in last weekend’s match was
banned for five matches Wednesday.
Sebastian Valencia caused an outcry when he gave Once Caldas
a 76th-minute penalty against Boyaca Chico after striker Ariel
Carreno went tumbling over in the penalty.
Johan Fano converted to give Caldas a 2-1 win in the
Colombian championship semi-final Group A game.
Boyaca had one player sent off for protesting and the team
threatened to walk off the field.
Boyaca’s leading shareholder Eduardo Pimentel later
threatened to pull his team out of the championship and demanded
foreign referees, a suggestion which has been ruled out by the
Colombian Football Federation (FCF).
“This was an incident in which (referee) Valencia had direct
responsibility,” Fulton Vargas, head of the FCF’s refereeing
committee, told reporters.
However, Vargas also threatened to take legal action against
Pimentel, who he said had repeatedly attacked the committee.
Carreno fuelled the controversy when he described the award
as a present, although he implied that it was not a dive.
“When they gift you something like that and you haven’t been
looking for it, well that’s good,” the Argentine told the Citytv
television station in an interview.
this penalty we won the match.” (Reuters)
