The Honduran referee Said Martínez has achieved enormous growth at a professional level that has allowed him to go abroad to direct different matches where he has met world figures such as Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The mathematician recalled the first time he had to direct a match for the Portuguese star’s Al Nassr, where the Portuguese confronted him directly due to a disagreement with a decision by the Honduran judge.
“Cristiano Ronaldo is very complicated, because of his temperament he is a very competitive guy, which causes him to feel many injustices, constantly,” he began by recounting in an interview conducted by Rely Maradiaga for his report.
After this, he was asked about that occasion where the Portuguese confronted him to forcefully complain and what his reaction was considering the character and personality that characterize Cristiano Ronaldo on the field of play.
“We annulled two goals, with VAR and everything, but a play that caused him the most discomfort, because he feels that he was fouled in attack, and from there a goal against was born and they were lost at the end of the first half,” he shared the Martínez context.
After that he continued the story, “He stayed at a distance of ten meters from me and from there he told me, “it’s always the same with you, you always think you’re the stars and the stars are us” in perfect Spanish, but he started calmly and then he got upset while I looked at him with a provocative face.
To finish the anecdote, he commented on how he calmed Ronaldo and his reaction upon hearing the words he said directly to him after analyzing the play that he complained about.
“I asked him to come closer, Cristiano is Cristiano and if he doesn’t want to, he won’t come closer, but he came to where he was and I told him, You are a great player, but what you told me at halftime is not correct, I respect you a lot, but here we come to do our job like what you are doing.”
After that, Rely could not contain his emotion upon hearing that one of the footballers he most admired had apologized to Said Martínez, “Did he apologize to you?!”, to which Said responded.
“Yes, he apologized to me and in the second half he didn’t complain to me and he even scored a great goal from a free kick,” he concluded.
