South African referee Victor Gomes went viral on social media after his gesture to Mohamed Salah in the African Cup of Nations final and the match official has opened up on his encounter with Egypt and Liverpool superstar.
The PSL referee along with South African assistant Zakhele Ziwela and second assistant Souru Phatsoane of Lesotho took charge of Sunday’s AFCON final between Senegal and Egypt.
The game was a feisty affair, with over 50 fouls being recorded and Gomes having to dish out six yellow cards.
However, there was one scene that gained attention worldwide when Gomes offered Egypt captain Salah his whistle and yellow card after the forward didn’t want to stop arguing over one of his decisions.
“I don’t want to go into nitty and gritty, I respect the player a lot, he’s a big player,” he told Thomas Mlambo on the Ultimate Sport Show.
“But I want everyone to understand something, the next time you are sitting at home, saying the referee is doing A wrong or B wrong, consider that a lot is also being said to him, he’s a human being.
“He needs to listen to his VAR communication, he is trying to sort the information, he’s trying to make the best decision and there is somebody making his life difficult and you are looking to solve this problem.
“At that stage, that’s what came to my mind, this is going to be the best way to solve this problem, to stop him from always coming. It’s very difficult to officiate the match, if someone is always on your case, always on your case.
“I found this was the only way for him to get him to cooperate with me and I think it was effective.”
