Real Madrid have Ronaldo, Benzema, Kroos and Modric. All household names at one of the biggest clubs in world football.
Bueno, Doi, Misao and Ogasawara. Not so much household names at Kashima Antlers.
These two were clashing this morning in the FIFA Club World Cup Final. Now, you would expect the full-strength Madrid side to absolutely obliterate their Japanese opponents. And yet, they found themselves 2-1 down with 52 minutes played. Could it be one of the biggest upsets in football history?!
No. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a penalty to equalise and then grabbed two more in extra time to win it for the Spanish side. Three minutes before that penalty, Sergio Ramos was booked.
Half an hour later, he committed a blatant enough foul as an Antlers player was breaking away.
• Announcers say clear yellow card (Ramos already has 1)
• Ref reaches into pocket
• Suddenly changes his mind?
You be the judge. ? #ClubWC pic.twitter.com/0twGQLprQA— Peña Athletic Calif. (@AthleticClubCA) December 18, 2016
'That's a clear foul, and a clear yellow card - wait a second, that's Sergio Ramos. He's already been booked, never mind.'
Those were probably not the thoughts of referee Janny Sikazwe. But that's how it looks in the video. Would it have been a yellow if it was Ramos being fouled?
The Antlers made history earlier in the tournament by becoming the first team in a FIFA competition to be awarded a penalty via video replay. That's sure to be outshone by the injustice against them here.
Twitter was APOPLECTIC with rage. Kind of.
Referee had already the hand in his pocket. Then he seems to realize Sergio Ramos had already a yellow, and changes mind.
WHAT. A. SCANDAL!— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) December 18, 2016
Ramos with a cynical foul that has to be a yellow, ref goes for his cards, realises Ramos is already booked and bottles it...
— AS USA (@English_AS) December 18, 2016
I can't believe the referee didn't give Ramos a red card. Had his hand in the pocket, but no balls to do it.
— Jonathan Roberts (@JonnyGoesDown) December 18, 2016
”He has stolen Kashima in the 2016 final World Championship after not have showed second yellow card to Sergio Ramos. ”ってwww
— socio3417💉💉💉✈💎 (@socio_3417) December 18, 2016
Sikazwe will not be the most popular man in Japan from now on. So much so that someone got to his Wikipedia page pretty quickly.
Forget that you were beaten by one of the best sides in the world. Hit the referee where it hurts - his online page.
