England’s second Group L game with Ghana is set to be officiated by a referee who clashed with Cristiano Ronaldo while officiating in the Saudi Pro League.
Said Martinez from Honduras will have his compatriots Walter Lopez and Christian Ramirez as his first and second assistant referees, with China’s Ning Ma as the fourth official.
It will be the second game of the World Cup for the 34-year-old, who took the reins when Qatar shocked Switzerland to pull off a 1-1 draw on the first matchday.
But Martinez will likely have little issue dealing with any potential histrionics from top stars in either England or Ghana’s teams, having previously gone toe-to-toe with one of football’s most notorious superstars on duty for his club.
Speaking to Mexican outlet Mediotiempo, via the Sun, Martinez admitted that the Portugual captain was ‘very difficult due to his temperament’.
‘He is a very competitive person, which makes him feel there’s a lot of injustice towards him, so he complains a lot,’ he added, recounting an experience he had refereeing one of Al-Nassr’s games.
Said Martinez will officiate England’s second group stage game against Ghana on Tuesday
‘We disallowed two goals for him, with VAR and everything, but there was a play that upset him because he felt he was fouled in attack, leading to a goal against them. They were losing.
‘He stayed 10 metres away from me and said: ‘It’s always the same with you lot, you always think you’re the stars.
”But we don’t bring you here to be the stars, we are the stars’, in perfect Spanish.
‘He started calmly but then got agitated and I just looked at him provocatively to see if he would get closer to me, but he didn’t.’
Martinez shared that he discussed the incident again with Ronaldo in the tunnel, continuing: ‘After checking the VAR, I asked him to come closer. Cristiano is Cristiano, and if he doesn’t want to come, he won’t.
‘But he came over to where I was and I said to him: ‘You’re a great player, but what you said at half-time isn’t right. I respect you a lot, but we’re here to do our job just like you are’.
‘He replied: ‘Yes, you’re right; it wasn’t the right way to express myself. I apologise’.’
Before stepping onto the pitch for England’s match against Ghana on Tuesday, Martinez has already briefly found himself at the centre of controversy at this World Cup, after his decision to award Switzerland a penalty despite their budding attack appearing to have been offside.
Martinez had his decision confirmed by VAR, but fans watching at home were unable to see the lines on the pitch after a technical difficulty.
‘During the match between Qatar and Switzerland, a brief technical interruption prevented the offside animation from being generated before the penalty awarded to Switzerland,’ FIFA shared in a statement after the incident.
‘The problem was resolved quickly. The VAR workflow was not affected and the usual procedure for reviewing the referee’s decision was followed.
‘The lines used by VAR to check the position of the players involved did not show the attacking player in an offside position in either situation.’
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