La Liga giants Real Madrid have on Sunday released a statement, making clear their absolute disillusionment with the standard of refereeing in the Madrid Derby.
The subject of officiating has of course taken its place front and centre in the Spanish media headlines across the evening to date. This comes after a derby at the Metropolitano packed with drama and controversial calls.
When all was said and done, it was hosts Atlético who emerged on the right side of a 2-1 result, to leapfrog their city rivals into 2nd in the La Liga table.
This came after visitors Real saw Dean Huijsen shown a straight red card for a last-man challenge early in the 2nd-half. The visitors have since made clear, though, that they feel both Cristian Romero and Lee Kang-in should also have been sent for early baths.
So adamant are those behind the scenes at the Santiago Bernabéu of as much, in fact, that they have since released a damning statement, taking aim at referee Oritz Arias and his team.
In a post across the club’s social media platforms entitled ‘A dreadful refereeing performance decides the derby’, Real Madrid summed the situation up as follows:
‘Real Madrid lost at the Metropolitano in a derby marked by the poor officiating of Ortiz Arias, who failed to send off Cuti Romero in the first half for stepping on Bellingham’s knee (despite reviewing the play on the monitor) and Kang-In Lee for stepping on Valverde’s left ankle. Both decisions shaped the match, which was decided in the second half in favor of Atlético.
‘Until the 30th minute, the game had very few dangerous plays. But from that point on, controversy took over the derby. In the 35th minute, during a contested ball, Bellingham got to the ball before Cuti Romero, and the Atlético defender planted his studs into the left knee of the Madrid player. Ortiz Arias initially booked our player but was called by Trujillo Suárez to review the incident on the monitor. After watching the replay, he rescinded the card from Bellingham and issued a yellow card to the Atlético defender instead of sending him off. Nine minutes later, the referee made another crucial error by not penalizing Kang-In Lee for a challenge on Valverde, where he struck him with his studs on the left ankle. Ortiz Arias was close to the incident but did not show a red card (or even a yellow card) to the Atlético player, nor was he alerted by Trujillo Suárez on this occasion.’
Conor Laird – GSFN
