Real Sociedad anger after third straight refereeing controversy in Atlético defeat | OneFootball

Real Sociedad were left incensed after a 0-3 defeat to Atlético de Madrid at Anoeta, their anger centring on a late handball penalty against Job Ochieng with the match goalless in the 84th minute, awarded by referee Juan Martínez Munuera.

The hosts had been solid up to around 75 minutes, but the decision unsettled them and tilted the finale. Álex Remiro said: “For me it is not a penalty, there is a deflection. Live it can be given, but on review it should not stand. The referee told us the hand was high after a rebound, but they must interpret what Ochieng intended,” he told DAZN.

Luken Beitia and Sergio Gómez echoed that view, lamenting that a single incident changed a game they felt they were controlling.

Head coach Pellegrino Matarazzo was blunt in his press conference, saying it was clearly not a penalty because the ball struck Ochieng’s thigh before his arm and he tried to pull it away, adding that it was not the correct decision. He also railed at recent calls, citing last week’s red card for Jon Martín after a VAR intervention by Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias for handball in an aerial duel with Fer Niño, and the earlier Celta de Vigo game when a penalty for a challenge by Unai Núñez on Gonçalo Guedes in the 76th minute, after the Portuguese forward had won the ball, was not awarded.

The run of grey-area decisions has frayed tempers within the club, and staff and players believe several refereeing errors have directly shaped their recent results.

Source: AS

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