Referee pauses La Liga game after Elche’s Rafa Mir accused of racist insult

• Espanyol defender Omar El Hilali reports insult

• Mir then scores 90th-minute penalty to secure 2-2 draw

The Espanyol defender Omar El Hilali accused the Elche forward Rafa Mir of a racist insult during their teams’ La Liga game on Sunday, according to the referee’s report.

Iosu Galech Apezteguia briefly paused the match under the anti-racism protocol in the 80th minute after speaking to the Morocco international El Hilali. “El Hilali informed me that he [Mir] addressed him in the following terms: ‘You came here on a dinghy,’ which could not be heard by any member of the refereeing team,” wrote the referee in his report. Consequently, I proceeded to activate the anti-racism protocol, for which reason the match was stopped for three minutes.”