Matías Almeyda, Sevilla’s coach, who was handed a seven-match suspension after being sent off in the match against Alavés on matchday 24 of the Spanish league, reflected: “It’s a total injustice. I’ll serve the suspension, but I don’t accept it and it won’t change my mind. My protest, which was excessive, was to ask the same thing I’m asking myself now: Why was I sent off?”
Almeyda insisted that he does not believe the refereeing is “against” him because that would mean thinking he is “too important,” and clarified: “There were no insults. Protesting a decision is one thing, but confronting or insulting is another. That, in my case, does not exist.” He then added: “To exaggerate everything, they say I kicked a little bottle. It’s easier to judge me from that perspective.”
The former River coach was sanctioned by the Competition Committee with three matches for disrespect, two for protesting, one for leaving the field, and one for unsporting behavior.
Previously, referee Iosu Galech’s report was blunt in his statement: “In the 85th minute, coach Almeyda, Matías Jesús, was sent off for the following reason: for openly protesting one of my decisions, shouting and making gestures of disapproval towards me, having already been warned a few minutes earlier by assistant no. 1 to correct both his attitude and the general behavior of his bench.”
“Once sent off, he refused to leave the technical area and this situation caused the match to be halted. In this circumstance, the aforementioned coach entered the field of play and stood face to face just centimeters from me, in a defiant and intimidating manner,” the referee’s report continued.
As a result, the 52-year-old strategist will miss the matches against Getafe (A), Real Betis (A), Rayo Vallecano (H), Barcelona (A), Valencia (H), Real Oviedo (A), Atlético de Madrid (H), and Osasuna (A), and will only be able to return on matchday 33, when the Andalusian side visits Levante. For now, his team sits fourteenth in the standings with 26 points, the result of seven wins, five draws, and twelve losses.
