Referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz has been widely slammed for his performance during Argentina's win over the Netherlands.
But it was the Spaniard who had the final say following the thrilling World Cup quarter-final clash. He dished out a staggering 17 yellow cards during the game and even in the penalty shootout, as well as awarding 48 fouls across the 120 minutes, plus stoppage time.
Lahoz has a reputation in LaLiga for his disciplined performances, something which he has seemingly brought with him to the World Cup. The fiery atmosphere of the game continued even after Lautaro Martinez has scored the winning penalty for Argentina.
Denzel Dumfries had already been booked during the shootout by Lahoz, having earlier given away a penalty when Lionel Messi put Argentina two goals up. And following Martinez's winning spot-kick, Dumfries confronted the Argentine coaching staff.
The Inter Milan star had to be dragged away by team-mates Virgil van Dijk and Justin Timber as his frustrations boiled over. Lahoz had spotted the incident though and showed Dumfries a second yellow card before pulling out the resulting red too.
That ensured the Spaniard had the final say following the fiery game as he took centre stage. And though it was the Netherlands who saw one of their players sent off, Argentina were also left furious by Lahoz, with Messi calling for him to be dropped by FIFA.
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“I don’t want to speak about referees because after they will sanction you. But people saw what happened. I think Fifa must take care of this, it cannot put a referee like that for a match of such magnitude, of such importance," Messi said.
"The referee cannot fail to be up to the task. A lot of joy and relief. It wasn’t to go to penalty kicks. We suffered too much for how it all happened. But the it’s the quarter finals of the World Cup.
"Going through is the most beautiful and impressive thing. Argentina is among the top four, because we show game after game that we know how to play each game with the same intensity, with the same will.”
Messi's team-mate Emiliano Martinez joined the superstar in slamming Lahoz for his display. He branded the Spanish official as "useless" as he blasted the events at Lusail Stadium.
"It was a tricky game. I thought we controlled the game really well, we went 2-0 up. Basically we controlled the game, the ref was just giving everything for them," Martinez told beIN Sports.
"All of a sudden, they get a good header – a good flick – which I couldn't see. Then it just turned upside down. The ref was giving everything for them. He gave 10 minutes [of added time], for no reason, 10 minutes.
“He was giving free kicks outside the box for them, like two or three times. He just wanted them to score, that's basically it, so hopefully we don't have that ref anymore. He's useless.”
