The match between Sporting Gijon and its guest Valencia, within the King's Cup competition, witnessed a strange and rare incident in which the first team was the victim, as the referee made a fatal legal error.
Gijón lost at home and in front of its fans against Valencia 0-4, on the evening of Tuesday, January 17, at the “Molinon” stadium, in the matches of the final price of the King’s Cup.
Gijón returned to the dressing room at halftime, trailing by 3 goals without a response, which prompted the local team coach, Miguel Angel Ramirez, to correct some technical and tactical aspects of his team, which delayed the return of some of the team's players to the field.
The matter concerns the three players: Ivan Otero, Jorge Zarvino, and goalkeeper Diego Marino, who joined their colleagues later, according to the Spanish newspaper "Marca".
The newspaper pointed out that referee Jose Luis Monoeira Montero blew his whistle announcing the start of the second half, without noticing the numerical shortage in the ranks of Gijón.
Immediately, the Gijón players intervened and headed towards Montero and told him of the shortage in their team, so the referee stopped the match immediately, apologized to both teams, and then waited for the rest of the players to come down.
😲 Munuera Montero's video game from the segundo tiempo of Sporting-Valencia in #CopaDelRey… among all the footballers of the team's teams.
❌ Enter hellos, the porter of Diego Mariño
🙏 Inmediatamente se dio cuenta de su error y pidió disculpas pic.twitter.com/jNofZz3E2C
— Marca (@marca) January 18, 2023
Even more astonishingly, Gijón was already without his goalkeeper, as he was seen hastily putting on his gloves, quickly running to his place between the three sticks.
This was the first match for coach Ramirez, who signed his contract with Sporting Gijon a few hours before facing Valencia.
During the match, Valencia finished the first half, ahead of Gijón, by 3 goals, scored by Edinson Cavani in the 10th and 39th minutes, and Justin Kluivert in the 21st minute.
The "bats" added a fourth goal in the second half, scored by Samuel Lino in the 64th minute, to reach the quarter-finals of the King's Cup.
This loss is the heaviest in the history of Gijón in the King's Cup competition, since its defeat by the same score against Real Sociedad in the second leg of the final price of the same tournament in 1988, according to "Marca".