Real Madrid have furiously criticised refereeing decisions and the VAR system after being denied multiple penalties during their frustrating goalless draw away to Rayo Vallecano.
Real Madrid’s goalless draw against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday has sparked furious criticism from the club’s internal media, which claims the team was unfairly denied multiple penalties and suggests systemic bias.
The primary complaints center on two incidents involving Rayo defender Pep Chavarria. The first occurred in the opening half, where Chavarria tangled with Jude Bellingham inside the box.
According to Diario AS reporting suggest a former referee, Eduardo Iturralde González, concurred with the Madrid perspective on the first challenge.
Iturralde González stated: “It’s not that he holds him, it’s that he grabs him. He pushes him back… And it’s a penalty.
He has the option of disputing the ball to shoot inside the area. The regulations don’t talk about grabbing, but about holding, and defines it as slowing down a player’s movement.
And that happens, the grab prevents Bellingham from shooting. Penalty not signalled and the VAR should have alerted the referee. The VAR is for what it is, not to just watch football.”
Late in the match, a second incident saw Kylian Mbappé claim a foul by the same defender. This prompted an aggressive rant from Real Madrid TV (RMTV), which targeted referee Martínez Munuera and VAR official Jorge Figueroa Vázquez, even accusing them of ties to the controversial Negreira case.
An RMTV commentator stated: “Figueroa Vázquez has an important history of mistakes in the same direction… Real Madrid didn’t play well, but Barcelona arrived in Vallecas and instead of making these mistakes against them, the VAR is broken – although today it could also have been damaged…
Martínez Munuera and Figueroa Vázquez are sons of the Negreira regime. You can see it with images.”
The comments underline the growing tension surrounding refereeing decisions as the league leaders enter the international break.