Ian Abrahams launches cheat accusation at referee in West Ham United v Fiorentina after ‘abomination’ of incidents
Ian Abrahams has blasted Carlos del Cerro Grande, accusing the Spanish referee of “cheating” and being biased against West Ham in their Conference League final win over Fiorentina.
The Serie A side did begin the game in a scrappy manner, with many believing they were timewasting from the offset despite arguably being the better team in the first half.
But talkSPORT broadcaster Abrahams, also known as the Moose, was having none of del Cerro’s performance, making a huge accusation about his integrity as an official.
“First of all, I respect officials. But this referee tonight is at best totally inept, and at worst both cheating and biased against West Ham,” said Abrahams on his personal Twitter account during the first half on 7 June.
“Either way his performance thus far has been an abomination (in my opinion).”
Idiot
It’s unbelievable to suggest a referee is cheating. Especially when that referee ended up awarding West Ham a penalty and overseeing a decision that saw Fiorentina have a goal disallowed.
Was it a great refereeing performance? No, it wasn’t.
However, it seems that no matter what the occasion is now, European referees get a lot of stick from English football fans because they have a different way of operating.
They’re used to more of the theatrics, the play-acting, the ugly side of football. In England, we don’t have anywhere near as much of it and we fans have a lower threshold of patience for it.
Del Cerro Grande’s booking of Nayef Aguerd in the second half was laughable, as well as a handful of other decisions. But Abrahams is a professional (if you can say that) broadcaster and his reaction to the referee’s performance is in itself an abomination.
Have a word with yourself, Moose.