World Cup star wears referee’s watch in ‘most unhinged moment so far’
PARAGUAY hero Matias Galarza picked up the referee’s watch and strapped it on during Saturday’s win over Turkey.
Galarza, 24, took the plaudits for Paraguay‘s first victory of the tournament after firing in the winner from range in the second minute.
But the clip of him nicking the ref’s wristwear is proving even more popular with fans.
Match official Ivan Barton lost his watch while trying to sort out a scuffle between the two sets of players just before half-time.
Galarza stumbled across it on the turf and, bizarrely, chose not to hand it back.
Like a kid on Christmas morning, the midfielder put it on his wrist and began fiddling with the buttons.
Barton was preoccupied with the pushing and shoving so did not even realise the watch had been taken.
It wasn’t until a couple of minutes later, once the melee had died down, that Galarza handed it back to the Salvadoran.
Some Turkey fans felt hard done by as Barton chose not to book Galarza for his antics.
It would have been his second of the game, leading to a red, following his first yellow in the fourth minute.
But he got away with it as Paraguay held on for a 1-0 win, despite going down to 10 men when Miguel Almiron was sent off in first-half stoppage time. And the viral clip has sparked a lively reaction on social media.
One X user called it “the most unhinged moment of the World Cup so far.”
Another wrote: “It was his goal prize.”
A third fan chimed in with: “Soccer is now a reality show.”
A fourth added: “He thought nobody was watching lol.”
And a fifth said: “This already went down in history.”
This year’s World Cup is like no other as a record-breaking 48 nations compete to lift football’s biggest prize.
England manager Thomas Tuchel is hoping to finally bring football home after a 60-year drought.
But footballing legends Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have other plans in what will likely be their final World Cup appearance.
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