Nàstic and the majority of football-loving Tarragona experienced a drama on June 22, with promotion to the Second Division thwarted by a goal from Málaga a few seconds from the end (2-2). The club, its board and fans felt mistreated by the main referee of the match, Eder Mallo Fernández, from the Asturian school.
Almost six months later, Nàstic has filed a criminal complaint against the referee, in an unprecedented action. It is not a quick decision: it has been very thoughtful, the directive is aware of its transcendence, but the desire to demand justice has ended up weighing more.
The complaint maintains, providing documentary evidence, including recordings made by Francisco Marco’s detective agency, Method 3, that the referee lied when in the arbitration report he stated that he had feared for his physical integrity after the final whistle, in his locker room, at the New Stadium. For this reason, he accuses him of a crime of falsifying documents. The insults and threats described by the referee in the minutes were the main argument for the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to sanction Nàstic by closing its stadium for four games.
The complaint against Eder Mallo Fernández says more. Nàstic accuses him of deliberately blowing the whistle to favor Málaga and thus ensure his promotion as a Second Division referee, thus quintupling his annual salary to 100,000 euros. Eder Mallo Fernández refereed last year in First Federation (previously Second B).
The complaint, to which you have had access The Vanguardwas presented yesterday in the courts of Tarragona, accompanied by documentary evidence and several requests. Among them, the referee’s summons and the statements of several witnesses that the prosecution, led by lawyer Fermín Morales, understands are key.
It is appropriate to analyze the complaint, filed on behalf of Nàstic by its current executive president, Lluís Fàbregas, in parts. The first major argument, that of the falsity of the arbitration report, is based above all on a conversation recorded on November 25 between a detective and Mallo Fernández. The club maintains in the complaint that this evidence refutes its own arbitration report by stating: “I told them, no matter how they come in, we have to hit each other, otherwise we are going to remain here like fools, and they said no, no, no one comes in here.” .
From the understanding of Nàstic, it is clear from the same conversation that the referee was not afraid. “I knew that no one was going to enter (the locker room), not even God.” The referee adds in the same recording that it was a situation “that is not pleasant, but that’s it.”
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The club accuses him of falsifying documents and of whistling to benefit Málaga, which rose to Second
A different reality than what was reflected in the minutes. “Once we are in the locker rooms, being able to access them thanks to the help of the public force, a multitude of incidents occur at the door of our locker room,” Mallo Fernández said. The minutes then detail a series of incidents, among which insults and threats stood out. And he concludes in the minutes: “We came to fear for our physical integrity when we saw that they opened the door and scolded us (…) The present security tells us that it is impossible for them to remove and control these people because, according to what they tell us, they are several managers. and club owners.”
Nàstic adds to the complaint the Mossos d’Esquadra report, signed by the police officer appointed as head of security at the Nou Estadi on June 22. The police report concluded that the physical integrity of the referee team was not compromised at “any time” after the match.
The second argument of the first complaint against a referee in Spain accuses him of “predetermination and deliberate alteration of the result of the match.” Also in this case the investigation carried out by the detectives led by Francisco Marco is the main evidence. “At a dinner, the night before the match, several authorities from Andalusia and Malaga who had gone to Tarragona to watch the match stated that they had the match controlled“, maintains the complaint. “The only thing they were worried about was the public’s reaction,” he adds. All this was explained by the owner of the Ca l’Eulàlia restaurant, Eulàlia Estrada.
The second indication that leads to the idea of ”predetermination of the outcome of the match”, according to the private investigation, is that the night before the match, Mallo Fernández told the waiter of a bar in Salou (Sports Legends Tavern), Carlos Blanco, supposedly friend of the referee: “At 3 I have his registration taken from Nàstic.” He was referring to Nacho González, a central defender, who was sent off in the 63rd minute with two yellow cards.
The waiter’s testimony provides other information that the club understands is important to prove that the referee wanted to favor Málaga. “He knew a month before the match that he was going to be appointed to referee and that they were probably going to upgrade him after the match.”
“Mallo requested a leave of absence as a local police officer, in Tineo (Asturias) and what is conclusive is that after the match he will earn 20,000 to 100,000 euros per year refereeing the new category,” the complaint adds.
A detective recorded the referee saying that in reality he did not fear for his physical integrity at the Nou Estadi
Nàstic also commissioned a former First Division referee, the Catalan Xavier Estrada Fernández, to analyze the controversial match. The former referee identifies “more than thirteen flagrant referee errors, among which nine actions by Málaga players stand out that should have been sanctioned with a yellow card.”
Nàstic highlights that the alleged crime of sports corruption must have a special economic or sports relevance. “The two requirements of relevance are met because promotion was at stake and because only taking into account the television rights we are talking about 5.4 million euros,” which is considered economic damage to the Grana club.
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