Nicolás Gallo is the referee designated for the final between Junior vs. Medellin

The Arbitration Commission of the Colombian Football Federation announced the arbitration shortlist that will be in charge of delivering justice in the grand final of the BetPlay Dimayor II-2023 League. The match, which has Júnior ahead in the series 3-2 over Independiente Medellín, will be played on Wednesday, December 13 at 8 pm at the Atanasio Girardot stadium.

Nicolás Gallo, from Caldas, was appointed as the central judge. The 37-year-old FIFA referee was only in five games throughout the second half, three of these were in the semi-final home runs. Next to him will be Wilmar Navarro, from Santander, as Assistant Number One, and Dionisio Ruiz, from Córdoba, as Assistant Number Two. The Fourth Referee will be Diego Ruiz, from Meta, and in the VAR room there will be Fernando Acuña as manager and Jhon León as assistant.

In the round-robin phase, Gallo appeared as a center back in the match on date 16 of the BetPlay Dimayor II-2023 League in the match between América de Cali and Millonarios. That match he had an outstanding performance and reprimanded 10 players with yellow cards. Later, he was appointed to dispense justice in the matchday 18 duel between Envigado and Deportivo Cali. The sugar producers fell 3-0 and suffered the expulsion of Luis Haquin.

Then, in the finals of the second half of 2023, he refereed two group B classics, Atlético Nacional vs. Millonarios FC and América de Cali vs. Atlético Nacional, the most complex, since two players were sent off, Kevin Mier and Víctor Ibarbo. In 2023 there have been eight games in which he showed 41 yellow cards, 6 red cards and awarded three penalties.

Nicolás Gallo, the Junior vs. final Medellín of 2016 and other antecedents in this match

The judge born in Ibagué, who trained at the Caldas Referees Corporation, already has experience in finals between Junior and Independiente Medellín. Gallo was designated for the first leg of the final of the then Águila League in the first half of 2016, which was played at the Metropolitan Stadium in Barranquilla.

That match ended in a 1-1 draw and Nicolás Gallo was accompanied by Humberto Clavijo and Dionisio Ruíz, the latter repeating for the 2023 final, as assistants. The fourth referee was Juan Carlos Gamarra. The center back showed four yellow cards, two for each side. In Junior, James Sánchez and Alexis Pérez were reprimanded, while in Medellín Luis Tipton and Jhon Edison Hernández.

Controversies about Nicolás Gallo and reaction to his appointment

Nicolás Gallo was removed from his role on the field by Dimayor in October 2022, after a controversial arbitration during the match between Atlético Nacional and Deportivo Pereira, corresponding to date 19 of the closing tournament. At the center of the controversy is a penalty sanctioned in favor of Nacional for an alleged handball by a Pereira player, where the defender was observed hiding his arm behind his back trying not to hit the ball, despite this and after reviewing the play In the VAR, Gallo decided to maintain the penalty sanction.

The controversy generated led Dimayor to temporarily remove Nicolás from refereeing duties, while his performance in that and other situations throughout the tournament was evaluated. The use of VAR in Colombian soccer has been the subject of multiple discussions and this incident added one more case to the list of questioned interventions, evidencing the constant tension between technological advance and its interpretation within the framework of soccer regulations.

His appointment caused a stir on social networks where both Independiente Medellín fans and Junior fans criticized the appointment. One of the people who expressed his indignation was former forward Martín Arzuaga, who through his X account recriminated his appointment:

“Nicolás Gallo cannot be a referee who dispenses justice in a final, he has been a referee who has put his name in “Question” let’s be more serious gentlemen of the DIMAYOR, it is about making it a clean final and with a man that has not been questioned. “IMER MAC doubts began.” With Infobae

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