The Spanish website ‘Defensa Central’, known for its clear allegiance to Real Madrid, has reignited the debate over the fairness of competition in La Liga, after publishing a lengthy report accusing referees of “favouring Barcelona” during the current season, asserting that the Catalan side has benefited from a series of controversial refereeing decisions that have helped them top the table, seven points clear of their Royal rivals.
The Madrid-based website pointed out that the difference in the two teams’ performances does not justify this lead, arguing that the “consistently favourable refereeing” enjoyed by Barcelona for years is the real reason behind its dominance, as it put it.
It added that the cases identified were merely “the tip of the iceberg”, referring to the existence of other instances that had not been counted.
The report compiled nine refereeing incidents, which it claimed favoured Barcelona, including controversial penalties, a red card that was not shown, and decisions that influenced match results.
The most notable cases cited by the website were as follows:
1 - A penalty for Barcelona against Rayo Vallecano was awarded to Lamine Yamal despite a VAR technical glitch, which earned the team a point.
2 - The referee reversed his decision to award a penalty against Lamine Yamal for a foul on Vinícius Júnior in El Clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu, despite the foul being clear, according to the report.
3 - A handball by Balde inside the penalty area against Sevilla was ignored, which the website described as “very clear”.
4 - A controversial penalty was awarded against Marcos Alonso in the Celta Vigo match, despite there being no intent or actual contact.
5 - The referee failed to send off Pau Kubarsi in the match against Athletic Bilbao following a violent challenge on Williams.
6 - Failure to award a penalty against Baldi against Elche, despite him fouling Álvaro Rodríguez inside the box.
7 - A penalty awarded against Juan García for a foul on Alberto Reina in the Oviedo match.
8 - A penalty against Fermin López against Rayo in the Rayo Vallecano match was overlooked.
9 - Awarding two controversial penalties against Cancelo against Sevilla within just 18 minutes.
10 - The referee failed to send off Gerard Martín in the match against Atlético Madrid at the Metropolitano.
The website concluded its report by asserting that these incidents “clearly explain” why Barcelona are top of the league, arguing that Spanish referees “continue to give the Catalan side an undeserved advantage”, as it put it, whilst noting that some future decisions might be awarded to Real Madrid “for the sake of appearances”, according to the report.