Ex-Fifa referee: Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk should be banned as ‘worst performance in long time’ analysed
Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk should have been sent off as the Netherlands lost on penalties to Argentina in the World Cup quarter-finals last week (9 December), according to Keith Hackett.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Fifa and Premier League official claimed referee Antonio Mateu put in the worst refereeing displays at the World Cup he could remember.
Mateu dished out 18 yellow cards, including two for Denzel Dumfries which resulted in a red card, during a fiery encounter.
Van Dijk escaped punishment despite body slamming Leandro Paredes to the ground after he had kicked the ball at the Netherlands’ bench.
A red card would have seen the 31-year-old banned for his country’s next competitive game.
“We had 18 yellow cards, two of them counting for a red so where do you start?” Hackett told Football Insider‘s Connor Whitley.
“The task of a referee is to control the match, this referee failed to do that because of how he officiated.
“He soon lost the respect of the players of the two teams and did nothing to earn it back. There was an underlying almost arrogance about his officiating and then he lost self-control.
“As he’s done in the past, he threw cards about like confetti, with no effective management of the players.
“I think this is the worst refereeing performance I’ve seen at the World Cup in a long time, counting other World Cup performances too.
“This is a guy who has refereed the Champions League final so I can understand why he was appointed to this game, he’s very experienced. He’ll be very disappointed with his officiating.
“He was inconsistent, he failed to recognise some foul challenges and punished others. He didn’t put his foot on the ball.
“Van Dijk should have gone, he should have been sent off.
“There were all sorts of scenarios that this referee failed to recognise.”
In other news, Liverpool have opened talks on £180,000-a-week player deal.