Iglesias Villanueva: "I was wrong and I apologize to Cádiz"

"The one who has lost the most is me, but nobody can question my honesty," said the referee after the controversy over Cádiz-Elche

MADRID, 18 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The VAR assistant referee in Cádiz-Elche, Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva, admitted that he was wrong when analyzing the play that ended the draw (1-1) of the franvijerve team in the match of the seventeenth day of LaLiga Santander, he apologized " to the Andalusian team and its fans, but stressed that his "honesty" cannot be questioned after so many years of career.

In an open letter, Iglesias Villanueva referred to the "avalanche of comments, criticisms and speculations" after the controversial play and confessed that he felt the "need", with the support of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), to write the written to express how you feel.

"It is simple and difficult at the same time to pronounce these words, as well as obvious and painful: I was wrong. I don't feel like using an automaton and hackneyed speech to say things like: we all make mistakes, the players also fail, the coaches. .. I prefer to write from the absolute sincerity of what I feel and without falling into victimhood since it is something I hate," he said.

The Galician referee said that he feels "angry", "pissed off", "pain" and "disgruntled" with himself for the "mistake". "I also feel that a mistake serves to tarnish and harshly criticize the work carried out by the CTA and all my fellow referees where professionalism, honesty, demand and self-criticism is the only way to understand our profession," he said.

In this sense, he stressed that he regrets that a "bad decision" of his by not detecting the offside position of Argentine striker Ezequiel Ponce, author of the Elche goal moments later, has harmed Cádiz CF. "I apologize for this to the entity and its fans, where they have always treated me with great respect," he said.

However, he regretted that the honesty and independence of the referees and their decisions are questioned every weekend. "Since I dedicate myself to this profession, I have never received the slightest insinuation or interference of any kind in this regard. Questioning the latter generates a climate of mistrust and tension that is impossible for the development of our work that I believe is not deserved. nobody in Spanish football", he added.

In this sense, he commented that he does not understand that this play has been used to "talk and criticize" other issues related to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) "that have nothing to do with the mistake made" and that he was escape. "I dedicate myself to arbitration and my only interest is to improve and try to do my job well like any worker in any company," he added.

Iglesias Villanueva affirmed that he declares himself an athlete and accepts when he fails. "And in this case the mistake was mine, no one else's. The CTA provides us with the necessary means to carry out our work in the best possible way and we have to make decisions. I was wrong, there is no more reading than that", reiterated.

Finally, he said that he is not in favor of the referees talking about the plays or explaining their mistakes, but that due to the "exceptional" situation, the fans and football this time, according to him, "deserved it".

"The one who has lost the most in this story is me, but, I repeat, no one can question the honesty of the Spanish referees or mine after so many years of involvement and professionalism," he said.