The Romanian referee remembered how he specially studied the game of the ex-forward of CSKA Doumbia

FIFA referee from Romania Ovidiu Hatsegan said that he still remembers the style of play of the former CSKA striker Seydou Doumbia.

– Does the Romanian referee follow the championship of Russia?

– When Russian clubs played in European competitions, you had to watch how the leading clubs play. It helps later when you referee their matches in the Champions League and Europa League.

– How can this help? Can you give at least one example?

– Of course you can. There are many examples. I remember when I was supposed to referee the match of CSKA in the Champions League, I specially watched several of his matches. There, a very cunning African striker then played in the attack. I remember him very much. Now I don’t remember exactly what his name or surname is (Seydu Doumbia – approx. “Match TV”)

– And what did he remember?

– He had a technique that he liked to use often when he went to fight with the defenders. With one hand, he tried to stop the defender, hindering him in every way and making it difficult for him to get to the ball when he was close to him with his body, and he threw his other hand to the side, and, as it were, pointedly showed: look, ref, I’m on the move, I’m running, I I don’t lie. When you judge and you don’t immediately notice what he is doing, especially when you are far from the episodes with his participation. Perhaps if I hadn’t watched him in the Russian championship matches on the video then I wouldn’t have noticed this on the field in the game. And so, as soon as the match began, I immediately let him know that such numbers do not work with me. A foul whistled once, a second time, and that was it,” Hatsegan was quoted as saying by Euro‑Football.Ru.

Doumbia played for CSKA from 2010 to 2015, as well as in the first half of the 2015/16 season.