The referee Jorge Duarte and one of the lines of Millonarios vs. Junior, to the pushes

ANDJorge Duarte from Santander had a very bad refereeing in the match that Millonarios won 3-2 against Junior in El Campín, to such an extent that the players of the Colombian champion refused, at one point, to resume actions in protest of their work.

Before Millonarios' first goal there was a foul by Leonardo Castro against Edwin Herrera, which generated a protest from the Junior players. The action continued, there was a corner kick and the 1-0 score was born, scored by Castro himself.

Western linesman Ríchard Ortiz raised the flag, but Duarte ignored him. Didier Moreno, Junior captain, accused the center back of having “arrogance” and that he did not want to sanction the infraction.

“We are not saying that the goal is invalid. What we are arguing and protesting is that the lineman himself was telling the referee that it was a foul and the judge did not make the decision as he had to,” said Junior coach Arturo Reyes.

Duarte and the line, to the blows?

Tempers not only heated up among the players. Journalist José Jiménez, from CM&, reported on his social networks that Duarte and Ortiz were pushing each other in the tunnel on the way to the locker room.

“The line judge and central referee Duarte started pushing and shoving at halftime. The lineman alleged that he had raised the flag for the foul on Edwin Herrera, an action that the center-back ignored and led to Millonarios' goal,” Jiménez wrote in his X account.

Duarte has been coaching in the first division for almost ten years. He debuted on August 2, 2014, in the game that Fortaleza and Huila tied 1-1 at Techo. However, he barely had continuity after 2022.

His appointment for a match of such importance caused surprise, not only because he was not an international referee, but because of the history he had with Junior in this same semester: he was the judge of the match against Atlético Nacional, in which Luis 'Cariaco' González suffered a broken collarbone due to a blow from Edwin Torres. Duarte did not call the foul.

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