REAL MADRID are set to serve Fifa a dossier on LaLiga refereeing after claiming they have been unfairly treated by the league’s deployment of red cards.
The news comes after Dean Huijsen was controversially sent off against Real Sociedad on Saturday for what was deemed to be the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity.
Madrid were already one goal up when Mikel Oyarzabal was released on the counter in the 32nd minute, and threatened to power away from the covering Huijsen.
The Spanish international pulled him down cynically and received a straight red card, despite the fact that Eder Militao appeared to have a decent chance of intercepting Oyarzabal anyway.
But the Spanish giants claimed on official channel Real Madrid TV that these sorts of harsh decisions are par for the course when it comes to them and La Liga referees, and that they would be letting Fifa know exactly that.
The club announced their intention to send a report to the organisation recording the imbalance between their red card record in comparison with fierce rivals Barcelona.
The announcement read: “Real Madrid is preparing a report with everything that has happened in these first four rounds of La Liga and what happened last season.
“A dossier, that report, which is going to be submitted to Fifa so that they take good note of what is happening in Spanish football with regard to refereeing.”
They reference a report that they claim shows Barcelona have profited from red cards in the league while they have suffered on balance, while no such discrepancy exists in European competition.
Per Marca, Madrid claim that they have suffered a balance of two red cards against them over the period the report analyses.
While a minus two record doesn’t look bad in isolation, they claim that Barcelona have enjoyed a balance of +65 red cards in their favour in the same time frame, highlighting a bias that has influenced title races between the two.
They go on to suggest that their respective values in the Champions League are +12 for Barcelona and +13 for Madrid, suggesting something is amiss in La Liga.
The fiery accusations are the latest escalation in an ongoing war between the team and La Liga refereeing.
Madrid and club president Florentino Perez have not been hesitant to imply that bias against them exists in the league, and have at times flirted with the idea of boycotting games or the league altogether.
Real Madrid TV’s April release of a video compiling mistakes made by referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea caused the official to hold a press conference in which he broke down in tears.
He said at the time: “To see your son come from school crying because some kids have said his dad is a crook is very hard to take.”
Actions like these have reportedly prompted referees in the division to consider their own measures to battle Los Blancos’ rise in hostility towards them.
Any bias has not seemed to slow Madrid down this season, with an Arda Guler goal doubling their advantage over Real Sociedad despite having just ten men, before they saw out the lead for a 2-1 victory.
They sit top of the league with four wins from four games, including a season opener against Osasuna in which their opponents received a red card.
Read the full article here