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Cuneyt Cakir, the infamous referee who is in the eye of the storm due to the red card he handed out to Nani, has received backing from Pierluigi Collina, UEFA’s head of referees.
Veteran referee Pierluigi Collina presented the Turkish official Cuneyt Cakir with an outstanding score for his refereeing during Manchester United‘s eagerly anticipated match with Real Madrid last Tuesday.
Many Manchester United supporters around the world felt Cakir’s decision to give the marching orders to United winger Nani was extremely harsh; Collina thought otherwise and gave him an overall rating of 8.2.
According to a report in El Mundo Deportivo, Collina thought Cakir “was right to send off Nani” and agreed with his call not to award a penalty for Rafael’s handball in United’s penalty area later on in the game.
El Mundo goes on to add: “Collina criticised only one of Cakir’s decisions: not sending off Rio Ferdinand after the match when the defender applauded him, inches from his face.”
Collina was widely regarded as one of the best referees in the world during his refereeing career, rightly earning the title of FIFA’s ‘Best Referee of the Year’ for six consecutive years and is highly respected in the football world.
