Real Madrid declares war to the "corrupted" refereeing system in Spain that "intentionally" harms the club

Real Madrid has published a lengthy letter directed to the RFEF (Spanish Royal Federation of Football) president Rafael Louzán regarding a match played last Saturday in LaLiga, against RCD Espanyol. The goal is to protest against the referee system, after they consider an "outrageous performance of referee and VAR" that surpass "any margin of error" and expose "the double standards with which Real Madrid is refereed".

Saturday's match represents "the culmination of a completely discredited refereeing system, in which decisions against Real Madrid have reached a level of manipulation and adulteration of the competition that can no longer be ignored". It's a harsh, 4-page letter, that goes beyond that particular match, because they claim that it affects Spanish refereeing credibility as a whole: "The scandal generated by this match has once again had worldwide repercussions, with the international press denouncing the biased use of the VAR in Spain and the lack of credibility of the Spanish refereeing".

Real Madrid declares war to the Spanish refereeing system

"The referees' inaction in the face of racist insults, which this party has unsuccessfully denounced in the face of the permissiveness of the RFEF's disciplinary committees, not only aggravates the problem, but also adds a new factor of discredit to the refereeing system and to the Spanish Football Federation itself. And meanwhile, the reality is that the refereeing and disciplinary structure continues to function without changes, perpetuating a system that has proven to be corrupt from within, which only cares about pursuing protests against referees and any other complaint or manifestation that reveals the reality of the Spanish refereeing system or that, simply, those responsible do not like."

That's just one paragraph. The letter goes on and on...

The club, and particularly the president Florentino Pérez, had previously complained about the referees' decisions against the club, but never at this level. They complain about two actions. First, a tackle against Kylian Mbappé in the 60th minute on the calf made by Carlos Romero, who should have been given a red card but instead only received a yellow card... and later scored the only goal, that gave Espanyol the victory. The other action was a goal by Vinícius Jr. that was disallowed for a prior foul made by Mbappé, which they feel was unfair and in fact it should have been a penalty on Mbappé.

With the letter, the club demands that the RFEF hands over the VAR audios relating to those two plays. "Knowledge of the content of these audios is essential to shed light on the decisions taken and the referee's performance".

But they go further, saying that this wasn't and isolated incident, and denouncing that there is an intention to harm Real Madrid, asking for a complete renovation of the refereeing system, including the removal of its members, "to prevent the scenario that has brought Spanish football to this situation of absolute discredit from ever happening again", and even sends the letter to the Higher Council of Sports (CSD) to "adopt the measures it deems appropriate".