Athletic Club President dismantles Real Madrid complaint about referees

Real Madrid have been furious about the decision not to send off Carlos Romero during their clash against Espanyol, with the wide man grabbing a late winner to add insult to the injury of defeat. It preceded them sending a letter to Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) President Rafael Louzan, demanding a change to the refereeing system, which they believe has been manipulated and corrupted to their detriment.

The letter was met with little sympathy from the rest of Spain, as was made evident by the response of Athletic Club President Jon Uriarte. As he took questions at the presentation of new signing Maroan Sannadi, he was unsurprisingly asked about the incident.

#AthleticClub President Jon Uriarte has dismissed #RealMadrid‘s complaints about referees.

He recalled a tackle Dani Carvajal only saw yellow for that broke Yuri’s leg in the last game of 22-23. Yuri went off, Athletic missed out on European football.pic.twitter.com/cNQCPOTCWV

— Football España (@footballespana_) February 5, 2025

“I’m going to start with two anecdotes. We played at the Bernabeu two seasons ago, it was the last day of LaLiga, and [Dani] Carvajal made a violent tackle on Yuri [Berchiche] and broke his fibula. We finished the game with one less player because we had no more substitutions, but the referee only showed Carvajal a yellow.”

“We were playing for European qualification, level at 1-1 and we missed out. There are specific plays that annoy us all,” Uriarte explained to Relevo.

Their draw with Los Blancos on the final day of the season led to Osasuna scraping in – had they beaten Real Madrid, Athletic would have qualified for the Conference League on goal difference.

“The other anecdote is that when we meet at Federation events, in the relaxed moments between us, practically all of the clubs have the feeling of being damaged [by referees]. Refereeing is a complicated task, the level does not stop improving and a lot is being invested in it and we must all collaborate together. The criticism we have is more effective if it is made in other forums rather than by putting pressure on the refereeing establishment.”