On the eve that Marcelo Bielsa will be introduced as the new head coach of Uruguay, one former Uruguay captain is in danger of hurting the easy relations between Argentina and Uruguay. Diego Lugano of Fenerbahçe fame made some harsh comments over the officiating in Qatar 2022.
As reported by TN, Lugano spoke about the issues in Qatar surrounding the referees and stated, “In Qatar I grabbed (Chairman of the FIFA referees committee Pierluigi) Collina by the arm and told him: ‘What happened with Uruguay? What did they do with us?’ And he told me: ‘They were interpretation plays’”.
Uruguay was eliminated from the FIFA World Cup in the first round, due to a dubious penalty call in their second game against Portugal, but also for giving away two matches against South Korea and taking their foot off the gas when needing a goal against Ghana. When it came to Argentina and how they won the World Cup, Lugano was even harsher.
Diego Lugano on Argentina being favored by referees
“They helped Argentina to be world champion. Four of the five penalties that (the referees) called were not penalties”. Argentina to many pundits were handed soft penalties during the competition.
In closing Lugano was happy to hear about Marcelo Bielsa’s arrival to Uruguay, “There is not a player who has gone through him -I am talking about the monsters of Argentina 2002, the Chileans, and the Europeans- who does not speak wonders (about Bielsa). I think we should congratulate the AUF because they made a good move and positioned us well worldwide because everyone is talking about Uruguay”.