The referee in the final was Sergio Gonella, the Italian. Klein's appointment, though supported originally by FIFA was disputed by the Argentinians, reputedly, because of the political links between the Netherlands and Israel. But as Klein said, later: "When I'm on the pitch, only two things are important to me: being fair to both teams and making my decisions bravely. I think all referees are fair, but not all of them are brave, probably. At the 1978 World Cup, I was leading Germany vs Austria. Well, to a Jew Germans and Austrians are the same. But they were like Dutch and Brazilians to me."