In the second leg of the recently concluded AFC Champions League final, Chinese "Golden Whistle" Ma Ning served as the referee of the match, and in the end, Japanese J-League team Urawa Red Diamonds defeated Saudi giants Riyadh Crescent 1-0 to win the championship. However, this result caused great dissatisfaction in West Asian football after the game. In an interview after the match, the famous Asian referee Nawaf Shukrala bluntly said that Maning made a serious mistake in the decision, resulting in Riyadh Crescent not winning the AFC Champions League.
In a video program in Saudi media outlet Goal, Shukrala detailed Manin's mistakes in the AFC Champions League final, the most serious of which was that he blew the game early and deprived Riyadh Crescent of the chance to equalize when it should have extended stoppage time, in clear violation of FIFA's latest rules on stoppage time. In addition, Shukrala even said that he believed that in the AFC Champions League final, the referee had made a great injustice, clearly favored the Japanese team, and "stolen" the championship from the Riyadh Crescent.
Nawaf Shukala is a Bahraini referee who has always been considered one of the best referees in Asia, known as Asia's "Golden Whistle". Shukrala has officiated the 2018 World Cup and whistled almost all major matches in Asia as a referee, and has also been invited by the Chinese Football Association to officiate several Chinese Super League matches as a foreign referee. In addition, as an "old acquaintance" of the Chinese men's football team, Shuklara has served as the referee in many matches of the national football team, including the last World Preliminary Round of 12, Shuklara has officiated the national football team against Japan and away to Vietnam.
Interestingly, Shuklala's evaluation of Manin is very different from that of the domestic media. According to domestic media reports, Ma Ning's penalty in the AFC Champions League final was "0 errors", which won a full house and reflected the level of Chinese referees; However, in Shukala's view, Manin is the main culprit for favoring the Japanese team and causing Riyadh to lose the AFC Champions League victory. In any case, for Ma Ning, who has never lacked controversy, this time it seems that he will face doubts from the international level.