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4 unusual facts about José Manuel Pinto


César Santin

Afterwards, however, it turned out that Barcelona's goalkeeper, José Manuel Pinto, had tried to emulate the sound of the referees whistle, thus confusing Santin.

José Manuel Pinto

Allegedly, he whistled to fool opponent player César Santin – who was running through on goal in the 26th minute – into thinking he was offside, leading him to stop, believing that the referee, Stéphane Lannoy, had blown his whistle; the referee allowed the play to continue and did not show Pinto a yellow card for the alleged deception.

In 2011–12 Pinto was once again the starting goalkeeper in the Spanish Cup campaign, with Barcelona again reaching the final.

He was also eventually awarded the captain's armband, appearing in 125 games in the first division and 56 in the second as well as competing in the UEFA Champions League (in 2003–04, although backing up Pablo Cavallero in the domestic league, he would appear in five group stage matches, as Celta proggressed to the round-of-16 game) and in the UEFA Cup.



see also