CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin has said Real Madrid’s “huge influence” and the pressure it puts on referees affects their decisions.
Atletico Madrid CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin claims that Real Madrid’s “huge influence” put pressure on referees which in turn affects their decisions.
He made this statement after Real Madrid’s 3-1 comeback win over Atletico Madrid in Thursday’s Copa del Rey quarterfinal clash.
Rodrygo’s 79th-minute equaliser cancelled Alvaro Morata goal which forced the game into an extra time before Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior put Madrid into the semifinals.
Atletico were not pleased with referee Cesar Soto Grado’s decision not to show midfielder Dani Ceballos a second yellow card for a challenge on Thomas Lemar, before sending off defender Stefan Savic at 1-1.
“I have the utmost respect for referees and I’m convinced that they always have the best intentions,” Gil Marin said in a statement published on Atletico’s website on Friday. “But anyone who looks at it from the outside can see that for decades now, the same thing almost always happens. Unfortunately, it doesn’t surprise anybody anymore, it isn’t news.
“[Real] Madrid are a club with a huge influence, with a lot of interests around them. They create so much pressure that it’s normal that it affects the people who have to take decisions. They’re aware of what awaits them if they harm them with a mistake, or even if they get something right. We often see a campaign against whoever they believe has hurt them.”
“That stadium [the Bernabeu] and the colour of that shirt shouldn’t carry weight when it’s time to take fair decisions,” Gil Marin said. “On the pitch [on Thursday] our players suffered the consequences of all that pressure and that angers me like any fan, of any team, who only expects that everyone is treated equally.
“The second yellow card [for Ceballos] was obvious, unquestionable, according to the laws. But at 0-1, in the 71st minute, playing for a place in the Copa semifinals at its own stadium, leaving Real Madrid with 10 men is a big deal.”
