MADRID (AFP) — A referee in Spain has issued 19 red cards as a regional match degenerated into a brawl, a sports newspaper said Monday.
The game in question involved Recreativo Linense and Saladillo Algesiras in the regional first division of the southern province of Cadiz, Marca said on its website.
Linense were leading 1-0 and the referee had already issued one red card when a fight broke out between two players which escalated into a brawl involving several players and spectators who invaded the pitch.
The referee, Jose Manuel Barro Escandon, then fled to the locker room and stopped the match. In his post-match report, he wrote that he had sent off 19 players.
Linense coach Sebastian Naranjo said the red cards were unjustifed.
"After the altercation between Francis and Aguilar, there were no clashes," he told radio Onda Cero.
"The players who intervened, and even the spectators, were just trying to see that things didn't get worse. I don't know what got into the guy (the referee)..."
