This Thursday, March 9, the Superclassic of the Saudi Arabian soccer league will take place, the duel between Al Nassr and Al Ittihad. The two most important teams in the Asian country will face each other in a crucial duel for the league, since Cristiano Ronaldo’s team is the current leader of the championship with 46 points, while his rival has 44 and there are still 11 games left for the end of the championship. domestic. But the relevance of the match has transcended borders and has reached our country, since it will be Mateu Lahoz who will referee the match.
Mateu, a LaLiga referee, has been the referee appointed by the Saudi Football Federation to direct the Superclásico, something that the Valencian referee has already done on other occasions, since this will be his fourth match refereed in Saudi Arabia.
The Valencian referee has refereed in three countries outside of Spain, specifically in Saudi Arabia, Greece and Azerbaijan. In the case of Saudi Arabia, Mateu directed the Kings Cup final in the 2021/22 season and he already refereed Al Nassr in 2018, as well as another league match in 2019. The match he directed for Al Nassr ended with eight cards and three expelled.
The controversy comes from the relationship between Mateu Lahoz and Cristiano Ronaldo. Both know each other from the Portuguese stage at Real Madrid, which has caused the anger of Al Ittihad fans, who think that the arbitration will not be fair to their team. “He loves Cristiano. They are friends,” said journalist Manar Al-Shahenoo.
There are several clashes between the Portuguese star and the Valencian referee. In 2016 Ronaldo snapped at him “fuck off” (“fuck you”) and a year earlier, during a Clásico against Barça, Cristiano took his hands to his private parts shouting “Hey, Mateu!, do you like it, huh ?”, Something that the Valencian referee did not see.
Another controversial moment for both was when Mateu asked Cristiano if he was angry in the changing room tunnel, to which the Portuguese replied “nooo”.
Mateu Lahoz draws cards to Messi and Suárez for protesting but if it’s Cristiano Ronaldo things change, here his double standards. pic.twitter.com/sBgjygTpYg
— Zona Blaugrana (@Zona_Blaugrana) January 25, 2018
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Despite these moments of tension, the truth is that Mateu is a referee to the taste of Cristiano Ronaldo, something that the Portuguese admitted on several occasions during his time in LaLiga.
