The full statement from Real Madrid:
Mr. President,
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol submits this formal complaint to the Royal Spanish Football Federation due to the scandalous conduct of the refereeing and the VAR in the match played on February 1, 2025 against RCD Espanyol.
The events that occurred in this match have exceeded any margin for human error or referee interpretation. What happened at the RCDE Stadium 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.
The two most serious refereeing decisions of this match have once again highlighted the double standards with which Real Madrid is refereed:
1. The brutal challenge on Kylian Mbappé, from behind, on the calf and without any possibility of contesting the ball, carried out in the 60th minute of the match by the Espanyol player who would later end up scoring the winning goal for his team, deserving of immediate expulsion as highlighted by the world press, ended with the decision of the referee, Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz, to only show a yellow card without the VAR, with Javier Iglesias Villanueva as responsible, intervening to correct a manifestly erroneous decision, leaving unpunished an aggression that in any other competition would have been an exemplary sanction.
It is particularly serious that the referee of the match stated in the report that the action occurred “in the dispute for the ball” (sic), thus distorting and falsifying the reality of what happened, with the only imaginable purpose of justifying his arbitrary decision. A statement that, far from being upheld, is denied by the offender himself, who, when questioned after the match, admitted without hesitation that “he knew it was impossible to stop him on the run” and that “he tried to stop him as best he could”, also admitting that “it was a bit of an ugly tackle”. He could not have been clearer: there was no intention to dispute the ball, but rather the express will to stop the opponent at any price with an action that is inadmissible not only because of its seriousness and unsportsmanlike conduct, but also because of the danger it entailed for the physical integrity of our player, so the decision of the referee and the inaction of the VAR are of unquestionable seriousness.
2. In the 21st minute of the first half, Vinicius Jr. scored a perfectly legal goal, which was disallowed due to an alleged prior foul by Kylian Mbappé, despite the fact that the images show that in that play the person who was the victim of a prior foul, a clear penalty, was our player, however the goal was disallowed and a penalty in our favour was transformed into a foul against, without the VAR intervening to correct the error or even indicating to the referee to review the play on the monitor.
The scandal generated by this match has once again had worldwide repercussions, with the international press denouncing the biased use of VAR in Spain and the lack of credibility of Spanish refereeing.
Despite the information published in the sports newspapers, regarding the alleged adoption of disciplinary measures by the Technical Committee of Referees, according to which the referees Muñiz Ruiz and Iglesias Villanueva would have been sent "to the fridge", even assuming that these measures are true, the only thing they prove is the seriousness of the refereeing decisions taken in the match and the inconsistency of the current refereeing system. The very recognition of errors of such magnitude by the responsible body demonstrates the rude and unjustifiable nature of the actions of both the on-field referee and the VAR, and reinforces Real Madrid's complaint about the systematic harm it is suffering. However, the problem is not solved with late and individualized sanctions when the decisions taken, as is the case, directly affect the result of the competition. What is really needed is a structural reform that prevents these events from happening again and again, as has been repeatedly happening to the detriment of Real Madrid and the integrity of the championship.
Given the seriousness of what happened, Real Madrid demands that the RFEF immediately hand over the VAR audios relating to the two key plays of the match:
1. Audio recordings of the communication between the VAR and the on-field referee in the action of the tackle by player Carlos Romero on Kylian Mbappé.
2. The audio recordings of the communication between the VAR and the on-field referee in the play of the goal disallowed to Vinicius Jr.
3. The conversations that took place between the members of the VAR room in both plays.
Knowledge of the content of these recordings is essential to shed light on the decisions taken and the referee's actions.
This refereeing scandal is not an isolated case. The Spanish refereeing system is completely flawed and structurally designed to protect itself, with the support of the Disciplinary Committees dependent on the RFEF itself, which systematically refuse to sanction referees, modify arbitrary sanctions and, ultimately, maintain a system that has already been described as fraudulent by the ordinary courts.
The serious structural problems of Spanish refereeing have become evident in recent years, with revelations that have revealed practices incompatible with the transparency and impartiality that must govern the competition. However, despite the magnitude of the scandal and the erosion of the credibility of the system, there has been no real reform or effective clarification of responsibilities.
What happened at the RCDE Stadium is not an isolated episode or a mere refereeing error. It is the most recent and gross manifestation of a refereeing system whose credibility is completely eroded, not only by the accumulation of decisions that have put it under suspicion, but by its very structure, designed to operate without effective control and outside of any requirement of impartiality. A system maintained and protected by the Federation itself, through its successive presidents, by a network of crossed interests in which the refereeing group, far from being a strictly technical body subject to criteria of neutrality and excellence, has become a political actor with a determining weight in the federative electoral processes.
When those who should be subject to oversight and control are, at the same time, a decisive factor in the choice of those who should carry out that oversight work, the result is what we are experiencing. An institutionalized clientelism that turns arbitration into an untouchable power within the Federation itself, ensuring its perpetuation without even the biggest scandals being sufficient to really promote a structural reform in its operation.
The irregularities in the use of VAR against our club have been confirmed by court rulings, which have shown how the images shown to the referees have even been manipulated to induce erroneous decisions against Real Madrid.
Judgment No. 287/2023 of the Social Court No. 47 of Madrid and that of December 7, 2023, issued by the Social Court No. 32 of Madrid, Proceedings 497/2023, declared proven that the VAR referee hid key images from the field referee, which led to the unfair expulsion of our player Vinicius Jr., evidencing an action that transcends human error to intentionality.
The same image manipulation was repeated on January 3, 2025 in the same venue, which shows that these are not one-off errors, but a recurring form of action, used as a mechanism to harm Real Madrid.
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.
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 prosecuting 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.
The scandal generated by this last match, the repercussions of which have transcended our borders, is not an isolated event or a minor incident, but rather the unequivocal confirmation that the competition is tainted by refereeing decisions whose justification is unsustainable.
Real Madrid cannot accept that the competition continues to be governed by a discredited refereeing system, whose main officials, far from being removed, continue to exercise decisive functions in decision-making. It is not enough to make superficial changes or to replace some directors; the only way to restore the credibility of Spanish refereeing requires a comprehensive reform that includes, as an essential element, the replacement of those referees whose connection with stages under suspicion compromises the legitimacy of the system and perpetuates its lack of transparency.
It is not enough to make superficial adjustments or apply protocols that do not alter the core of the problem, or to call meetings devoid of any real content, which in reality have the sole intention of perpetuating a system that in judicial terms has been described as “systemically corrupt”. The refereeing system must be completely renovated, from its structure to those who comprise it, establishing effective control mechanisms that prevent the scenario that has led Spanish football to this situation of absolute discredit from being reproduced again.
Given the seriousness of the above and the reiteration of irregularities that affect the integrity of the competition, a copy of this notice is sent to the Higher Council of Sports (CSD), so that it is aware of the situation and, if necessary, adopts the measures it deems appropriate.
Sincerely.
Jose Luis del Valle Perez
Secretary of the Board of Directors
Real Madrid Football Club