Barcelona Director suggests Real Madrid referee strategy is working

Barcelona Director and right-hand man to President Joan Laporta Enric Masip has suggested that Real Madrid’s strategy of complaining about officials is perhaps paying dividends for Los Blancos. Making statements ahead of a charity padel tournament in Barcelona, Masip also had some lengthy complaints of his own about the refereeing in Milan.

An irate Barcelona returned to the Catalan capital, almost to a man complaining about Szymon Marciniak’s display at the Giuseppe Meazza. Those frustrations continued the day after, with President Joan Laporta also airing his displeasure at the decision-making. Marciniak has since denied comments he reportedly made about Barcelona in the aftermath, while Inter had their fun at Barcelona’s expense.

Enric Masip gets in on the action

Masip himself was more than willing to comment on the matter himself on Thursday morning.

“Already in the third minute, after a strong challenge on Lamine, the referee goes very abruptly to the bench, tells Flick to step aside and starts threatening, I think it’s Araujo. I, having seen what happened with this referee in Milan, and who was in charge of the VAR, sometimes coincidences don’t happen for no reason, and the truth is that the entire match was a tough one for them. And it’s true that it’s easy for referees to take offense these days, but when it comes to judgment, everyone should have the same judgment. It wasn’t intentional but there was a clear difference of treatment,” he told Marca.

“There are ex-Real Madrid players who have said to me that the Lamine Yamal penalty was stonewall,” Masip commented to the press.

Do Real Madrid’s protests work?

There has been much said about Real Madrid’s complaints about officials over the past few months, particularly in the lead-up to the Copa del Rey final, where they moved to have the referees changed before the game. Masip did not name Los Blancos, but suggested their continued protests against officials are perhaps having an impact.

Ronald Araújo has disabled comments on his Instagram after a wave of negative and insulting messages flooded his page since last night. @sport

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) May 7, 2025

“We have a coach who orders his players to try not to protest. You have to avoid certain things. There are clubs that perhaps they have managed to affect things with continued protests. That’s not the case with Barca, and we won’t talk about the referees every game because everyone could complain,” he complained.

“It’s true that it’s a decisive game, and a decisive game like what happened to us when we were eliminated from the Champions League in Milan, where there was the famous handball and the unreviewed penalty sends you out. These are small details, and in the end, someone can tell you that we wouldn’t have conceded… but the decisions made the difference between one team and another.”

El Clasico up next

All eyes will be on the referee on Sunday now, with Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez in charge of what will be a decisive clash for the fate of La Liga. Spain’s two biggest clubs will no doubt crank up the pressure on the officials again in the build-up.