Real Madrid Complaints Against Referee's Decision To Defeat Espanyol

Real Madrid sent an official letter to RFEF regarding the leadership of the referee (Instagram/@realmadrid).

JAKARTA - Real Madrid have filed an official complaint with the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the Spanish Ministry of Sports (CSD) over the referee's decision to defeat on Sunday, February 2, 2025 against Espanyol.

Los Blancos said that the match represented the peak of the referee's system which was completely distrusted by levels of manipulation and counterfeiting that could not be ignored.

The La Liga champions were beaten 0-1 at the RCDE Stadium, a result that reduced their lead at the top of the table to just one point from Atletico Madrid.

Espanyol's goal scorer in the 85th minute was defender Carlos Romero, who had previously been given a yellow card - which many observers, including the former referee, had agreed to be a red card - for a foul on Kylian Mbappe.

In a four-page open letter published on Monday, February 3, 2025, the Real Madrid Council said it filed an official complaint against referee Alejandro Muniz Ruiz's decision in the match as well as the decision of the video assistant referee (VAR), Javier Iglesias Villanueva.

"The events that occurred in this match exceeded the human error limit or referee's interpretation."

"What happened at the RCDE Stadium is the culmination of a completely unbelievable refereeing system, where decisions that harm Real Madrid have reached levels of manipulation and counterfeiting of competitions that cannot be ignored," the letter said.

The letter then highlighted two incidents in the match, namely the decision not to issue Romero and the previous incident in which Vinicius Junior's goal was ruled out for a foul by Mbappe.

Real Madrid described the violation of Mbappe as brutal.

"It is very serious that in his report, the referee noted that the action occurred while fighting for the ball."

"So, distorting and falsifying the reality of what happened, with the only goal that can be imagined to justify his arbitrary decision."

"The referee's decision, and the absence of any VAR action, has no need to question his seriousness."

"What really needs is structural reforms that prevent these incidents from happening again and again, as has happened repeatedly which has harmed Real Madrid and league integrity," the letter said.

The club asked RFEF to submit audio recordings of conversations between referees on the pitch and VAR about Romero's foul and annulled goal, as well as conversations in the VAR room.

Real Madrid has repeatedly complained about referee standards in Spain. The club's internal television channel, Real Madrid TV, has regularly highlighted allegations of wrongdoing by officials, before and after the match.

"This referee scandal is not an isolated case. A shallow change is not enough."

"The referee's system must be fully updated, from its structure to what is in it," the letter said again.

The RFEF, and the Referee's Technical Committee, which is responsible for managing referees in Spain, have not commented on the complaint.

The newly elected federation president, Rafael Louzan, revealed last week that Real Madrid president Florentino Perez had told him he wanted to bring in a British referee to raise the bar.