Real Madrid's nefarious attacks on referees part of Super League plan

Times

30-04-2025

Anything that is not stopped is encouraged, and nobody in Spanish football has been brave enough to stop Real Madrid for too long now.
Not Javier Tebas, the talkative head of La Liga, not the Spanish football federation (RFEF), whose showpiece match, the Copa del Rey final, was besmirched at the weekend. Real Madrid had soured the preamble with slurs and conspiracy theories, and what unfolded was the product. Antonio Rüdiger dismissed for aiming an icy missile at the referee, Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea; Lucas Vázquez sent off for invading the pitch in protest; Jude Bellingham dismissed for further dissent in the closing minutes of the 3-2 defeat by Barcelona. What a shower they are.
Yet this has been coming. It has been coming all season as Madrid continue to perpetuate their bogus tales of bias and injustice. Even Carlo Ancelotti is not immune to it now. Madrid's saving grace, a calm and dignified presence on the touchline, he too was booked in the final, because everyone at the club has to buy into the ludicrous notion that the world is against them. Witness the boycott of last year's Ballon d'Or award ceremony, because the judges had the temerity to select Rodri ahead of Vinícius Jr.
The most contemptible development of all came on the eve of the game, after a crisis that was entirely provoked by the club. Real were trying to get the match officials changed, amid speculation they would not play at all. And that should have been the end of it.
Instead of a 40-minute conversation with the Real director general, José Ángel Sánchez, the RFEF president, Rafael Louzán, should have issued the ultimate sanction. Real had tried to unfairly influence the outcome of the match by putting undue pressure on the officials — so Real should be gone. Let them explain it to their fans, already in Seville before the fixture. Let them explain it to their players, denied what may be their last shot at glory this season, with Barcelona in control at the top of La Liga.
All season, Real Madrid's television network has been releasing videos calling into question the integrity of referees. The one released before the final about De Burgos Bengoetxea had reduced him to tears at a press conference. At that point, the authorities should have acted. Not because of the crying, but for what those tears represented. The overwhelming pressure to steer the game Real's way. To give them a penalty, to overlook their misdemeanours.
It is increasingly impossible not to read an even deeper cynicism into this nefarious campaign. Real need to justify their continued drive for an exclusive Super League. What better validation than the falsehood they cannot get a fair game in the existing competitions? That the federation, the league, and Uefa are influencing referees to conspire against them? A club who consistently get their own way playing the victim, the underdog. The club of General Franco and royalty. Poor little Real Madrid.
If Tebas was as interested in Spanish football as he is in poking his nose into business over here, he would have acted earlier in the season. Say what you like about the Premier League, but no club would be able to replicate the slanderous insinuations of RMTV. Referees make mistakes and can be criticised for them — that is free speech.
Yet there are protocols here that stop a manager or club from so much as discussing the merits of an official prior to the match. Ancelotti and Sir Alex Ferguson were warned for actually praising Howard Webb before Chelsea played Manchester United in 2011. What Madrid did to De Burgos Bengoetxea, by comparison, was scandalous, and should have been enough to merit expulsion. A line has to be drawn.
So, in some ways, the Copa del Rey got the final it deserved. An embarrassment, a travesty. There is talk referees in Spain could strike if this continues. In a country beset by blackouts, this would be a darkness that felt somehow deserved.
No need for show when addressing Gakpo's vest
Why on earth would the FA wish to pursue Cody Gakpo further over the message 'I belong to Jesus' written on the vest he revealed after scoring for Liverpool against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday?
He has already been booked for taking his shirt off — the saviour being no match for nitpicking rules around what is appropriate behaviour on the football field — and no doubt his club will advise against repeat performances. The FA could have a quiet word, too, explaining that proselytising may have unimagined consequences and is therefore not encouraged, and that action will have to be taken if it continues.
As this was an isolated incident, however, why use a hammer to crack a nut? It is not as if English football does not do religion. The FA Cup final even has its own hymn, Abide With Me, sung before kick-off. Mohamed Salah 's goal celebrations often include a religious gesture. Charging Gakpo would merely plunge the organisation into the culture wars and be seized upon by the usual opportunists. Anything that needs to be said can be kept private and, much like Gakpo's vest, there is really no need for show.
Response to Aluko's latest claims speaks volumes
When the cyclist Jess Varnish made a complaint of bullying against her coach Shane Sutton, she received widespread support from her peers. It was not the same when Eni Aluko delivered an eight-page letter of complaint against the England women's coach Mark Sampson. There was, at the time, a rather deafening silence from her team-mates. Sampson eventually lost his job after a revelation of inappropriate past behaviour, but not before he had taken charge of a match against Russia. When Nikita Parris scored England's first goal, the entire team ran to Sampson to celebrate.
There have been recriminations and apologies since, and Aluko was vindicated in some of what she said. Yet it is intriguing that after her criticism of Ian Wright she once again does not appear to be commanding the popular vote. Aluko has said sorry after accusing him of hogging female space on punditry panels, but Wright refused to accept her apology.
His social media post was liked by the present England internationals Alessia Russo, Mary Earps, Lauren Hemp, Alex Greenwood, Lotte Wubben-Moy and Esme Morgan, plus notable figures including Sam Kerr, Jordan Nobbs, Katie McCabe and Izzy Christiansen. Inescapably, a pattern exists.
Level on titles, but Amorim's side far behind Liverpool on pitch
Liverpool and Manchester United are now tied on 20 titles each but, as an indication of the task facing Ruben Amorim, if Arne Slot's Liverpool had simply stopped playing after beating Tottenham Hotspur 6-3 on December 22 this season, they would still be ahead of United in the table. They could have turned it in after the 3-0 win over Bournemouth on September 21 and still been up on Southampton, mind.
Officials changed game by showing red card for slip
If Evanilson's red card is not rescinded we must conclude there genuinely is nobody at Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) who understands football. We can already make that assumption of Peter Bankes and John Brooks. It was Brooks who, as VAR, saw the Bournemouth man very obviously slip as he went in to make a tackle on Manchester United's Noussair Mazraoui, yet summoned Bankes to the monitor to consider upgrading it to a straight red card offence; and it was Bankes who, as referee, saw clear evidence that this was an unfortunate mishap, yet changed his yellow to red.
Manchester United had more shots at goal than in any other league game under Amorim but 15 of the 25 — including the 96th-minute equaliser — came after the 70th minute, when Evanilson was dismissed. Brooks and Bankes, not United, changed the game.
Martínez must stop making himself centre of attention
Since making himself the centre of attention when Aston Villa played Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarter-finals, it is hard to think of a good game Emiliano Martínez has played for his club. The spotlight is already on goalkeepers without making it brighter. Kepa Arrizabalaga's Chelsea career never completely recovered from that dreadful show at Wembley in 2019, when he refused to be substituted before the penalty shoot-out in the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City.
Arrizabalaga, like Martínez, is clearly a very talented goalkeeper, as his displays for Bournemouth this season confirm, but he was not the same for Chelsea after and struggled to keep his place in the team. Martínez is not there yet but this is far from his best season, with save percentage numbers placing him 15th among Premier League goalkeepers. There is also a metric for expected saves and Martínez sits 16th with a PSxG of -1.8. It is not that Villa need a new goalkeeper, but perhaps they need more than just Robin Olsen to put pressure on him; and Martínez needs to be less of the story.
FA Cup semi-finals have diluted romance of Wembley
The sight of an entirely empty section of Manchester City's end for their FA Cup semi-final with Nottingham Forest should cause concern, and a discussion, within the FA. Is it time to revert to semi-finals at neutral club venues, and keep Wembley sacred?
There was a time when a visit to the capital for a big match would have meant everything to City's fans. Not any more. This was their seventh consecutive FA Cup semi-final and their 28th Wembley fixture in 14 years. Win the final next month and it will be 30 in August, for the Community Shield. And Wembley's expensive, from Manchester. The tickets, the travel, sustenance over a long day, a conservative cost estimate for those 28 games would be pushing £6,000. The magic has probably gone now.
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
Against that, most regulars can get tickets. The one advantage of semi-finals at Wembley is supply. Had City and Forest played at Villa Park, with its capacity of 42,918, some loyal fans would have missed out, as always happened. If the FA reverted to some of the grounds that once housed semi-finals, after an initial welcome would come an inevitable backlash as clubs burn through their reduced allocation.
Yet, undoubtedly, a conversation is required. Wembley should be special and Sunday's game did not feel that way. Equally, the romantic idea of Wembley as a destination has been eroded. After a fabulous win over Aston Villa, Crystal Palace are now going to Wembley for the first time in nine years — except they were actually there last Saturday. Could that match not have been just as ably accommodated at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, or the Emirates?
When the FA first moved semi-finals to Wembley it was out of economic necessity. The stadium needed to be paid for, so had to be used as much as possible. The England team stopped travelling around the country for much the same reason. The stadium now fully financed, this is wholly a commercial decision. Is it still necessary? Those empty seats suggest not.