CORNERFLICK
Real Madrid’s 1-0 defeat to Real Betis in La Liga has triggered a fresh row over refereeing, with the club’s official TV channel taking aim at Alejandro José Hernández Hernández and VAR.
Penalty call sparks backlash
Madrid were beaten in the fourth round of the league after failing to make their pressure count. The source material says a stoppage-time penalty save by Weiss should have been retaken under the new IFAB rules because Marc Bartra had entered the area too early, but the referee and VAR did not order a repeat.
That decision prompted an angry reaction on Real Madrid’s TV channel, which said the VAR official should have called the referee over and argued that anyone in the video room ought to know the laws.
The channel also dragged in the long-running Negreira case, claiming that Hernández Hernández, Iglesias Villanueva and Ortiz Arias should no longer officiate Madrid matches.
Mourinho stays calm
By contrast, José Mourinho kept his tone measured after the game. He also did not react strongly to a disallowed goal for Spe as a result of a marginal offside.
Mourinho said he had not watched the incident back, did not know the details and had seen nothing in the dressing room that would let him offer an opinion.