On Saturday, Real Madrid suffered their first La Liga loss of 2025 as they fell to a 1-0 defeat against Espanyol at the Stage Front Stadium. However, the manner of the defeat was controversial, with the league leaders furious with the decision not to send off Carlos Romero, who went on to score the winning goal, on Kylian Mbappe.
Carlo Ancelotti described the decision of on-field referee Alejandro Muniz Ruiz and VAR as “inexplicable”, while Real Madrid TV have gone one step further by furiously slamming those involved (via Diario AS).
“It is an aggression in which he can burst the player, it is regrettable. This is what Madrid have to put up with in this filthy Negreira league. If this were the other way around, open all the front pages and the media. Rafael Louzan (Spanish Football Federation president), who has just arrived, has to leave now. He knows what is there and he has given absolute power to Medina Cantalejo, who is the direct heir of Negreira.”
RMTV also hit out at the decision to disallow Vinicius Junior’s goal in the first half, which was chalked off for a foul by Mbappe in the build-up.
“It is a totally valid goal, they invent the annulment. The Espanyol defender hangs on Mbappe, does not whistle the penalty and on top of that disallows the goal. Mbappe just wants to get rid of the defender, nothing more.”
RMTV concluded their rant with a sarcastic point to those higher up the food chain in Spanish football.
“The refereeing is shameful, today is very serious. Congratulations to the executors of Medina Cantalejo’s plan, they are his praetorian guard. They have achieved the clear objective of preventing Real Madrid from winning. We have been putting up with the same thing for many years.”
Ultimately, it is a disappointing result for Real Madrid, who will feel that they should have won the match irrespective of whether Romero was sent off. They had the chances, but they did not take them.
