That Cristiano Ronaldo goal that did not go up to the scoreboard in Belgrade (in the European qualifiers for Qatar 2022 there is no assistance from the VAR) it caused rivers of ink in the Portuguese press, which described the arbitration of Danny Makkelie and his assistants as a Shame. Cristiano raised the tone in his social networks assuring that “the whole nation is being affected“and Fernando Santos did not hide his anger either:”That is not possible in football“. –
The main protagonist of the action was Makkelie’s lineman, Mario Diks, who was the one who did not see that the ball had crossed clearly the goal line of the Serbian goal. Makkelie, after seeing the images, entered the Portugal dressing room and apologized to Santos: “The referee just apologized, he was embarrassed. He had told me in the field that he was going to see the images and that, if that was the case, he was calling me to apologize … and he was. It is the second time in a tie they have apologized to me after the game“.
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Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Mario Diks, Danny Makkelie y Bernardo Silva
The outrage was so great in Portugal that Makkelie even granted an interview to A Bola to extend his apologies to all the fans. “As a refereeing team, we always work hard to make good decisions. When we are in the news in this way, it does not make us happy at all,” said the Dutchman, one of the most highly regarded referees in UEFAand whose name always appears among the candidates to referee the finals of European tournaments. Makkelie assumed responsibility on behalf of his entire refereeing team and tried to minimize reputational damage, while Diks’ figure was in the background. –
However, days later it became public that the Dutch federation took action with the assistant. Mario Diks was removed from Makkelie’s team and also lost the option to be present at the Eurocup of this summer. Makkelie soon wanted to separate himself from his assistant, and after that unfortunate Serbia-Portugal he let him know, as Diks himself revealed in an interview with Omrop Fryslan: “He told me that he wants to continue with another assistant because he no longer has confidence in our cooperation“.-
I really expected more support, understanding and trust after a successful collaboration over several years. ”
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Jan de Vries is Danny Makkelie’s new lineman, and it will be him who will be present in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals against Chelsea. It will be the second time that Makkelie is present at the Alfredo di Stéfano this year, as Real Madrid-Atalanta also refereed the round of 16 round. That game was played a week before Serbia-Portugal, which inflamed an entire nation and marked the end of the international career of the now outlaw Mario Diks. –
