Referees in Spain have published a statement denouncing the bullying and harassment the referee José Luis Munuera Montero, who officialised the match between Osasuna and Real Madrid last weekend, suffered from angry Real Madrid fans. Munuera Montero showed a red card to Jude Bellingham for bad language, which led to Madrid playing more than half of the game with 10 players, ending in 1-1 draw.
Published by the CTA (Technical Committee of Referees in Spain), the statement says that "We, the professional referees, wish to express our absolute rejection of the attacks and threats that our colleague José Luis Munuera Montero is receiving through social networks and that affect both him personally and his family."
The statement goes beyond the individual case of Munuera Montero, saying that "these attacks are added to the hatred and verbal violence with which we have to carry out our professional work every weekend", and warn that, in the lower categories, they frequently turn into physical violence.
This happens two weeks after Real Madrid published a letter saying that refereeing system in Spain is corrupted. Yesterday, the club visited CTA's offices to review VAR images and conversations (a standard practice many fans use), and despite the "cordiality" of the meeting, the club maintains that there is a bias against them.