‘It’s high time we stood up for our right to fight for promotion with enthusiasm and fair play’

The decision to award a controversial penalty caused a clamour in the Club and its supporters so that the Mayor of Almeria city Ramón Fernández-Pacheco has also asked the Spanish Football Federation to make the conversation between the video assistant referee (VAR) and the on-field referee public after he ended up awarding a penalty against the Rojiblancos when he previously called a foul in favour of UD Almeria. The Mayor of Almeria states ‘no one understood’ that decision and emphasises ‘I won’t be the one to question the professionalism of the match officials nor will I latch onto conspiracy theories, but I believe it’s high time the Almerienses and the UD Almeria fans stood up for their rights to fight for promotion with enthusiasm and fair play.’ 

The Mayor of Almería considers that the Federation ‘has a wonderful opportunity to operate with the utmost degree of transparency by making the VAR audios public so that everyone can hear the conversation between the on-field referee and the VAR that ended up awarding a penalty that nobody understands.’ 

Ramón Fernández-Pacheco believes that UD Almería, the city and the province ‘have the right to grow in a fair and equal competition for all.’ He also underlined ‘the huge effort that the Club is making, the enormous effort that Almeria city is making in that dream that involves fighting with certain guarantees to get to Primera Division.’ An effort for ‘something that goes far beyond the sporting achievements and that encompasses other aspects as important as the social, economic or the future projection of Almería city itself’, he reiterated to conclude ‘you cannot play games with the hopes of so many people. The only thing we ask for is respect.’