Carlo Ancelotti said that “there’s a problem” with LaLiga referees after Jude Bellingham was sent off in Real Madrid‘s 1-1 draw at Osasuna on Saturday.
Madrid were leading 1-0 after Kylian Mbappé‘s opener when Bellingham was sent off in the 39th minute at El Sadar, with Ancelotti blaming a translation error from the referee for the midfielder’s dismissal.
The hosts then levelled in the second half, thanks to a Ante Budimir penalty awarded after a VAR check on Eduardo Camavinga‘s challenge on the forward, as Madrid dropped two more points in the title race.
“In a football sense, we started well and ended well, with one player fewer,” Ancelotti said in his post-match news conference.
“In our last three games, things have happened that everybody has seen. But I don’t want to say anything more about that, because I want to be sat on the bench for the next match.”
Madrid’s draw at Osasuna follows another 1-1 draw with Atlético Madrid a week earlier — when Atlético were also awarded a penalty after a VAR check — and before that, a 1-0 defeat at Espanyol, after which Madrid sent a formal complaint on the referee’s performance to the Spanish football federation.
“Everyone has seen it,” Ancelotti said, when asked to expand on his comments. “In the last three games, the VAR has looked at things in our penalty area, and not in the other box. There were two or three things he should have looked at, and didn’t.
“I think there’s a problem [with referees]. In the last three games something has happened that shouldn’t have happened. We have to keep fighting, playing well, and that’s what we’ll try to do.”
Madrid have frequently voiced complaints about refereeing decisions, and their open letter to the federation earlier this month described the system as “completely discredited” and subject to “manipulation and adulteration.”
Other LaLiga clubs condemned the letter, with the league filing a complaint of their own over Madrid’s claims.
