Boca react to Nicolás Ramírez being named referee for the Superclásico | OneFootball

Nicolás Ramírez was appointed as the referee for the upcoming superclásico for the third consecutive time, and alarms went off at Boca. Although they understand that he is currently among the best, they haven't forgotten the disallowed goal by Milton Giménez at the last minute when the Millonario won 1-0 at the Bombonera. Additionally, they criticized the quick yellow cards in his last visit to the Monumental.

Established as one of the best in Argentine football, the 37-year-old referee born in González Catán will once again have control of the hottest match in the country. Although the evaluations of his two previous performances in these duels were positive, the anger lingers in the Xeneize camp because they felt wronged in the 2024 defeat.

The main complaint is one: when the match that River was winning 1-0 with a goal by Manuel Lanzini was about to end, a cross from the left found Giménez and Franco Armani contesting the ball. It ended up in the net after hitting the forward's hand, but there was almost simultaneously a stomp by the Millonario goalkeeper that could have been penalized with a penalty.

On that occasion, after consulting the VAR and following several minutes of protest, Ramírez disallowed Boca's goal, did not award a penalty, and sent off Cristian Lema with a second yellow card. The Superclásico would end a few seconds later with a victory for Marcelo Gallardo's team, leaving their eternal rival in a deep crisis. It should be noted that on that same afternoon, Sergio Romero got into a fight with a spectator, sealing his fate at the club, and in the following match, a defeat to Belgrano, Diego Martínez was dismissed.

Seven months later, Ramírez was appointed again for a Superclásico, but this time at the Monumental. That memorable 2-1 with goals by Franco Mastantuono and Sebastián Driussi passed without major controversies, but after the match, Marcos Rojo was one of those who spoke out.

"It was 20 minutes in and he had already given three yellow cards. In mine, he says to continue and then steps back and gives me a yellow. The same with Toto (Belmonte). But well, it's always the same," said the then Xeneize captain. The truth is that Belmonte had been booked at 12 minutes; Ayrton Costa at 19, and himself at 23. All correct yellow cards.

On River's side, the memory of the two superclásico victories overshadows any mistakes Ramírez might have made. Nonetheless, they did openly complain about the absurd yellow card to Federico Gattoni at the Bombonera for a minor foul on Edinson Cavani, when only 5 seconds of the match had passed!

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.