1660308736 Gaya raises his voice after ratification of TAD sanction I

Gayà raises his voice after ratification of TAD sanction: “I have never disrespected an arbitrator”

Gayà offers a press conference after the TAD decided to uphold his four-game ban.Gayà offers a press conference after the TAD decided to uphold his four-game ban. Ana Escobar (EFE)

The enemy of the spotlight, usually sane and level-headed like no other, José Luis Gayà has jumped to his feet in the last few hours after feeling “seriously injured” by the Administrative Court of Sport (TAD), which ruled on Thursday to maintain the four-game sanction that the competition committee imposed on him in May for some remarks about the arbitration of Melero López to Valencia-Osasuna on LaLiga round 32.

Mestalla’s first captain will miss the first four days of the league, missing out on clashes against Girona, Athletic, Atlético de Madrid and Getafe. “I don’t understand what happened. It has taken them 42 days to reply after meeting seven times to discuss various issues and not making up their minds until the last minute. The coach could have prepared the start of the league differently. I prepared myself to play. We thought they would lift my sanction. In the absence of a start date, this cannot be communicated. It doesn’t occur to me,” laments the one from Pedreguer, pointing out that this decision “conditions” the start of the league for Gattuso’s side, who host Girona at the Mestalla on Sunday. Another youth squad, Jesús Vázquez, will replace the captain.

On April 16, after a match between Valencia and Osasuna in Mestalla, Gayà, in a post-match interview conducted by the television that owns the rights to the competition, referred to the refereeing performance of Melero López, who did not indicate a possible Penalty pointed to Bryan Gil. “That’s the pick-me-up we have this season. You must warn him of a very clear penalty. The referee saw it and didn’t want to whistle. We’re going to fight everything and keep going forward,” said the Valencia captain, who expressed his uneasiness and that of the group. “It’s like always. The referee told us at the break that if he had awarded Bryan the penalty it would have been removed by VAR because there was no contact. And you have to swallow it. We can’t say anything either because like me they give you a yellow card at the end of the game without saying anything. It is what it is, they do what they want. The game ended in a 2-1 defeat for Bordalás.

These comments prompted the Spanish FA’s Integrity Committee to open a file and propose that the Mestalla team’s captain be given a four-game penalty, which the Competitions Committee accepted and the Appeals Committee upheld. Finally, the TAD dismissed the association’s appeal for the temporary injunction to be issued. In his reply to Valencia at the time, Competition argued that Gayà’s comments affirmed that “the referee intentionally stopped performing one of his duties”, which, in his opinion, was neither “a valid criticism” nor an “expression of a disagreement” expressed by freedom of speech could be protected. In doing so, it determined that those words could be “attacks on the integrity of the arbitration group by questioning its impartiality”.

Beyond the words of Gayà, who had already vented on Twitter on Thursday, Valencia staged a strong club image this Friday in the Paterna press room. Flanked by Gennaro Gattuso, his coach; Carlos Soler, Jaume Doménech and Gabriel Paulista, the other first-team captains, and the club’s general manager Sean Bai, José Luis Gayà, first captain of Valencia CF, expressed “sad and disappointed “before a sanction “disproportionate because you don’t say anything.” And he added: “I’m not afraid of reprisals for this press conference, but I have to defend myself. I won’t name names, but other colleagues said worse than I did and nothing happened to them. We have to everyone is treated equally, and that’s not how it happened. I’d like someone to explain it to me.”

Before Gayà took the floor, Sean Bai denounced that the penalty imposed on Pedreguer’s side is a sanction that “is communicated late, is totally unfair and sets a dangerous precedent, it’s a serious loss for the club and for our captain and a clear example of comparative tort.” It hurts Gayà that his punishment will keep him away from Luis Enrique’s next outing and possibly his presence at the World Cup in Qatar. “Being at the World Cup is a handicap, not the playing to be able to start, but you already know me and I will fight for my dreams. In these four weeks I will work even more. I do not rule out going to the World Cup; I will give everything,” said the left-back, who replied, that coach Luis Enrique did not call him to encourage him.

The Valencia player clarified that he has no regrets about his words and that “he is sleeping peacefully” because “in nine years as a professional he has never disregarded a referee”. “I don’t regret it. You might think that the forms weren’t the best, I can understand that, but I wear the captain’s armband and they have to understand that I have to go out and defend the team. I sleep peacefully, I never have Disregarding a referee, that’s why it hurts me more.”

After his “disproportionate” sanction, the Valencia international expects more for this course. “I don’t know what’s going to happen this year when people come out to talk because they’re going to punish a lot of players at this rate.” Pending a decision on his extension, Gayà limited himself to qualifying that “this press conference to talk about something else, but you all know what I want and the tune is good”.

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