Referee Committee admits Real Madrid were right to demand Atletico Madrid red card

Real Madrid were left very angry at the circumstances of their 2-1 defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid on Sunday. Prior to goals from Alejandro Grimaldo and Jonathan David sealing the victory for the home side, Los Blancos were aggrieved at the decision not to send off at least one player wearing a Rojiblanco jersey.

In the 38th minute, Cristian Romero was shown a yellow card following a VAR check after a foul on Jude Bellingham, while Lee Kang-in escaped any punishment after he took down Federico Valverde with a strong challenge. Real Madrid were adamant that both should have been punished with dismissals, and the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) has now had their say.

As per Diario AS, the CTA have ruled that referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias was wrong not to send off Lee for his challenge on Valverde, which has left the Uruguayan midfielder facing several weeks out with an ankle injury. They also say that Romero should have been dismissed for his tackle on Bellingham, although they put down that non-decision to confusion over the VAR check that took place.

Huijsen right to be sent off

The CTA also say that the decision to send off Dean Huijsen was the correct one, despite Ortiz Arias only awarding a yellow card on-field. Thus, the Real Madrid defender will almost certainly be banned from the match against Villarreal in three weeks’ time, given that any appeal made from the Bernabeu would surely be unsuccessful.

Real Madrid are unlikely to find much solace in these rulings from the CTA – if anything, it will only make them angrier, given that the result could have been very different had they been facing 10 men – or even 9 – for at least 45 minutes at the RiyadhAir Metropolitano. Instead, they had to continue against 11.