Soto Grado (VOR) says: “Cucho touches the ball and Ximo heads it”

Referee Soto Grado handled the Deportivo-Betis incident from the VOR room with a line that, according to Sport, was recorded in the communication: “Cucho touches the ball and Ximo heads it”. The Federation later made the talk public, and Sport details how the possible review was managed.

Call from VOR

Sport says the official received a recommendation of a “review” to check whether there was “serious reckless play”. He asked for a first close-up angle and then a wider shot to see “how that player arrives” to the contact. After that, he backed his initial decision.

“I’ll whistle the foul and that’s it”

Sport also quotes Grado’s closing reasoning: “I’ll whistle the foul and that’s it.” He therefore went no further—despite the impact and the fact that the Deportivo full-back was bleeding.

The controversy erupted because, as the account goes, Riazor reacted mainly to a challenge by Cucho Hernández on Ximo Navarro rather than the scoreline at the break. Live, the referee only gave a foul, called VAR, reviewed on the big screen, and still decided to stand by the call. The crowd kept protesting up to halftime, and the subsequent level action (the draw) calmed things down.

After the incident, Sport notes that Ximo Navarro showed clear disagreement and that Diego Villares also protested. Deportivo coach Antonio Hidalgo summed up the view in no uncertain terms: «Hay un árbitro que toma una decisión… aunque yo no lo comparto… para mí era una tarjeta roja clarísima», as Sport reports.