Sergio Ramos should have been sent off in the dying minutes of normal time in the club world cup final as the referee reached into his pocket to produce the second yellow that would have brought Real Madrid down to 10 men.
But to everyone’s astonishment, he hesitated and let the foul go. There was obviously a lot of discussion on the incident post the game with the Kashima Antlers coach accusing the referee of being a coward.
The official, in this case, Janny Sikazwe has now come out and made a statement on the incident clearing up the confusion over the decision made at that moment in time. He stated that he did not produce the card due to a lack of communication.
He said, "It was just a lack of communication between my assistant referee and me. He indicated it was a foul, and said on the earpiece that there was ‘no card’. However, I understood 'with a card. That's all it was, just a lack of understanding.”
Ramos ended up staying on the pitch when the score was locked at 2-2 as the game went into extra time. Cristiano Ronaldo did his thing scoring a hat-trick and helping Los Blancos to a 4-2 win on the night.
Had Ramos been sent off it would have been a very different story. The Japenese side gave the Spanish giants a good run for their money despite being the underdogs but eventually fell just a little short of winning it.
The win caps off an incredible debut year in management for Zinedine Zidane. Having taken charge of the club only in January, the Frenchman has already won the same number of trophies with Real Madrid as Jose Mourinho managed during his three-year reign at the club.
Zidane happy with 2016
Zidane expressed his satisfaction with what has been an incredible 11 or so months for him in management. There have been moments where his team have looked shabby and out of it but have still come away with a victory.
Los Blancos have only lost twice in 2016 and Zidane has proven he has what it takes to handle the pressure of the Madrid hot seat Here is what he said after the Club World cup win.
“2016 has been the dog's bollocks! For everyone, for the players... It's been phenomenal and I'm delighted with the work we've done.”"There's no key aspect but what we've been doing is improving in every game.
“Of course, we suffer sometimes and we don't play as we should, but that's normal. The good thing is that we do things positively. We know that, at any moment, we can hurt our opponent.”
Madrid can now look forward to a well-deserved break with their domestic season only resuming on the 7th of January.
