A Spanish referee has found a new use for vanishing spray – keeping disgruntled players at bay.
Vanishing spray was first introduced at the 2014 World Cup as a way to mark out the distance between an offensive free-kick taker and the opposing defenders. So popular was the idea that it has been adopted by leagues around the world, including the Premier League, Bundesliga and beyond.
However, one referee in the Segunda Division (Spain's second-tier) appears to have found a new use for the substance. Officiating a match between Mirandes and Cartagena on Sunday night, referee Saul Ais Reig couldn't hack the moaning from both sets of players as he deliberated over a VAR call.
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As they continued to ignore him, Reig decided to whip out his trusty vanishing spray. He gave a quick blast of the spray on the floor and told both the Mirandes and Cartagena players not to cross it, or else.
Remarkably, it worked. Reig walked away to talk to the officials in the VAR hub as the pack of players left him in peace. His quick-thinking went down a treat with fans on Twitter, now known as X, who probably wouldn't mind a similar trick being enforced in the Premier League.
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One wrote: "Decent idea to be fair!" Another said: "More refs need to start adopting this." While a third added: "Genius." Someone else simply went with: "Yes!"
Mirandes eventually won 2-1 in a match that was dominated by late goals. Mirandes took the lead from the spot with 20 minutes to go through Carlos Martin, before Jose Fontan levelled things up on the 80 minute mark.
But there was late, late heartbreak for Cartagena as Sergio Barcia made it 2-1 in added time to give Mirandes all three points. The result moved Mirandes up to 13th in the Segunda Division, while Cartagena remain rooted to the bottom on just six points.
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