1 week Ago By Athlon Sports
Flashback a few days and it wasn’t even clear if Real Madrid were going to show up to the Copa del Rey Spanish cup final. The club had accused the referees of “announcing supposed actions which are far from the principles of equality, objectivity and impartiality which should prevail a few hours before a footballing event followed by millions of people around the world”. The cause of their outrage was a pre-match press conference in which referees De Burgos Bengoetxea and González Fuertes talked about Madrid’s repeated criticism of referees on their TV channel.
De Burgos Bengoetxea had tearfully recounted the impact the criticism has on his children. “When a child goes to school and people tell him his father is a thief it’s messed up.” Madrid were forced to put out a statement denying that they had ever intended to boycott the final but they did refuse to show up to all the pre-game events and press conferences.
It’s not the first time they’ve acted like a petulant child. In 2024 Real Madrid boycotted the Ballon d'Or ceremony after Vinicius Junior was snubbed for the award (it deservedly went to Manchester City's Rodri). Vinicius later revealed that the club ordered him not to attend the ceremony.
Cut to today and the childish scenes following the dramatic 3-2 loss to Barcelona after extra time in the Copa del Rey. That’s despite Barcelona having a legitimate penalty overturned by VAR in the dying moments of the game. Instead they bemoaned Mbappé being penalized for pushing away Barcelona’s García with a hand to his face.
Rudiger seemed to completely lose it on the bench. After the match Lucas Vasquez and Vinicius Junior charged onto the pitch to remonstrate with the official and worse still Rudiger started throwing what appeared to be ice cubes onto the pitch in the direction of the referee. Unsurprisingly, he now faces a huge ban.
It’s one thing to be upset at losing; it’s quite another to lose with this little grace. And as we’ve seen, it’s not an isolated incident. This has been a miserable season for Real Madrid.
It happens. Look at both the Manchesters. But Real need to grow up and show a bit of class.
Probably with a new manager next season. Related: Mbappé is making Real Madrid worse Related: Alonso set to replace Ancelotti.
