THE REFEREE at the centre of Jude Bellingham’s red card has revealing his “suffering” family have been sent “threats and attacks.”
Jose Munuera sent off Bellingham during Real Madrid’s 1-1 draw with Osasuna at the weekend.
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The midfielder was left gobsmacked when he was given his marching orders for what he later claimed was a “miscommunication.”
Munuera wrote in his report that Bellingham said “f*** you” after a decision went the other way.
And the England ace was left facing a 12-match ban as a result of his actions.
Bellingham has today avoided the major suspension following an investigation from LaLiga.
He has instead been banned for two matches, meaning he will just miss games against Girona and Real Betis.
Real Madrid plan on appealing the two-match ban, with the club and Bellingham insisting he did not swear at Munuera.
But the ref claims the incident has seen his family receive various threats, saying they are under “attack” following his red card for Bellingham.
He said: “Today it was my turn, but how long has the committee been suffering these attacks?
“They are vilifying my nephews, they are attacking my nine brothers, my 80-year-old father went to mass today and… I better keep quiet.
“What are we creating? How can we show in a newspaper the barbarities that we are saying? Are we crazy? Are we controlling violence or promoting it? This is getting out of hand. What sport are we creating with football?
“Before they sent me another hundred thousand death threats or insults, I silenced my Linkedin account so that the same thing wouldn’t happen again. I’m not afraid, it’s for my protection and that of my family. They are in a bad way, very worried.
“They haven’t asked me to stop because they know that’s impossible. My parents don’t deserve this.”
Meanwhile, the Mail reports that the official himself is under investigation from the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).
It has nothing to do with Bellingham’s red card though, and is instead related to his ownership of Talentus Sports — a sports consultancy agency.
Alleged clients including Uefa, LaLiga and several football clubs.
The RFEF is reportedly investigating an incident based on Munuera’s “extra-sporting activities.”
But Munuera denies any conflict of interest, claiming: “I have been doing it for a year now, and I and other sportsmen give talks to companies of all kinds.
“As an extra service, and that is where the whole mess came from, we offer a free service on Linkedin to the people who go to these conferences, without any kind of connection, let’s be clear, neither economic nor contact, in which we create a database with the job offers generated by sport, basketball, tennis, football.
“So that young people who have done a postgraduate degree in sport have a reference site to be able to see these job offers. Full stop. There is nothing else.”
