Head of Referees responds to Real Madrid – ‘We might be bad or inept, but we’re not corrupt’ | OneFootball

The President of the Referees Committee (CTA) Luis Medina Cantalejo has come out to deny Real Madrid’s allegations made about the officials in Spain, following their open letter to the President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) Rafael Louzan. In the letter, the referees in Spain are accused of being corrupt and robbing Los Blancos of honours.

Real Madrid sent a four-page letter, published on their website and signed by the secretary of the board, claiming that they specifically had been damaged by the refereeing in La Liga. In the letter, they demand reform in the CTA, and the sacking of officials that were active during the period ex-Vice President Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira was in power. He is currently being investigated for sporting corruption between 2001 and 2017, when he received over €7m in payments from Barcelona.

In an interview with El Chiringuito, as carried by Sport, Medina explained that while the referees might make mistakes, they are in no way dishonest.

“I don’t have to be ashamed of anything. Neither my colleagues nor I are corrupt at all. We might be very inept, we might be very bad, but I guarantee you that we won’t be corrupt.”

“The referees don’t go with the intention of damaging anyone. Despite what statements, letters or television say, we are honest. No one goes out onto the pitch with the idea of ​​damaging anyone.”

On the decision not to send Carlos Romero off for his challenge on Kylian Mbappe, the central theme of Real Madrid’s complaints, Medina all but admitted that it was a mistake.

Image via AFP

“What everyone sees, a referee and two VAR officials cannot not see. I’m very clear about what happened, everyone has seen it, although I’m not just referring to Mbappe’s action… When it’s black and white and white is obvious and the referee opts for black, I can’t give you an explanation.”

Meanwhile former referee Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez has revealed to Cadena SER that the referees and the CTA feel they have been hung out to dry by the RFEF. While the Federation did emit a statement on Monday ‘regretting the tone’ of Real Madrid’s complaints, however it did not condemn the complaints themselves. It has also been reported that referees are considering strike action.