Paraguay national team player Matias Galarza not only scored the only winning goal in his team’s victory over Turkey in the World Cup, but he also caught attention because of a funny behavior after he found referee Ivan Barton’s watch on the field and did not return it immediately.
Referee Barton had lost his watch when the atmosphere between the players of the two teams flared up briefly before the end of the first half. He intervened to separate the two sides, and Galarza found the watch and put it on his wrist before returning it to the referee only a few minutes later. The player was not subjected to any penalty for this behavior, although he had received a yellow card early in the match.
This position surprised former German referee Patrick Etrich, who works as an analyst for Magenta TV during its coverage of the World Cup.
“I mean, what goes through the mind of a player doing that? With all due respect. What was he thinking? I don’t know,” Ettrich said.
