The Portuguese referee who sent off Otamendi is now in charge of Argentina vs Switzerland at the World Cup
The Portuguese referee who red-carded Otamendi has been appointed for Argentina vs Switzerland in the World Cup quarter-finals. 'Olé' has already dug into Pinheiro's record.
Argentina reach the World Cup quarter-finals with a detail that has already put the Buenos Aires press on high alert: the referee for their clash against Switzerland is João Pinheiro — the same Portuguese official who sent off Otamendi in an Allianz Cup semi-final.
The newspaper 'Olé' was quick to build a profile of the 38-year-old referee, born in Vila Nova de Famalicão. And the first point raised by the Argentine outlet was precisely that: "a bad precedent," they write, referring to the incident in which Pinheiro showed Otamendi a second yellow card in the dying minutes of a 3-1 Benfica defeat to Sp. Braga in January.
According to 'Olé', the centre-back — now at River Plate — was already on a booking when he went down after a foul, protested, and Pinheiro had no hesitation: red card. One of six dismissals Otamendi received in 281 appearances for Benfica, the newspaper notes.
Pinheiro is no stranger to this World Cup. He had already refereed Switzerland vs Bosnia in the group stage and South Africa vs Canada in the round of sixteen, before FIFA handed him the biggest match of his career to date.
The Golmetria model gives Argentina a 22.3% chance of winning the title — the tournament's outright favourites. Getting this far was expected. Getting past Switzerland on Sunday in the early hours, with a referee the Argentines have already put in their crosshairs, is another story entirely.
Kick-off is at 2 a.m. Lisbon time. What happens on the pitch — and off it — could change everything.