Florentino Perez reveals Club’s ‘Biggest Concern’
Even with a poor string of results, an injury crisis and Xabi Alonso facing the sack, Real Madrid club president Florentino Perez highlighted Spanish refereeing as the cause of immense “damage” to the Spanish giants.
Los Blancos finally got back to winning ways in La Liga on Sunday evening with a 2–1 win over Alavés. Yet when the final whistle sounded in Vitoria, controversy loomed large.
In the dying moments of the match, Nahuel Tenaglia committed a poor tackle to take down Vinicus Junior inside the box. What appeared to be a clear penalty was not given by referee Víctor García Verdura on the pitch, and Pablo González Fuertes in the VAR room did not even call the official to the monitor.
The denied spot kick ultimately had no bearing on the final result, but Pérez used the opportunity to reignite his crusade against Spanish referees.
“Christmas is also a time to reflect on the things that concern us. And in our case, I can tell you categorically that Real Madrid’s greatest concern is the situation of refereeing in Spain,” the 78-year-old said at the club’s annual Christmas lunch with the media.
“We had a referee on the VAR who threatened to take action against our club the day before a Copa final. Can you imagine this situation in any other country? And as you saw [against Alavés], or in our previous game in Girona, it seems that the trips experienced by Vinicius or Rodrygo in our last two outings are not penalties, it is the refereeing novelty of this season.
“The integrity and decency of our sport is at stake. The image of our football has been seriously damaged. And therefore, justice must be done because only then can we, together, regenerate Spanish football.”