{"id":3247,"date":"2026-04-13T09:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T09:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/3247\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T09:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T09:54:14","slug":"the-referees-blind-spot-a-surprise-decision-not-to-award-mbappe-a-penalty-against-girona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/3247\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;The referee&#8217;s blind spot&#8221;&#8230; A surprise decision not to award Mbapp\u00e9 a penalty against Girona"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Real Madrid drew 1\u20131 with Girona last Friday at the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u in a game where refereeing controversies dominated the talking points more than the on-pitch action, as the hosts missed out on victory following a disputed late incident.\n<\/p>\n<p>In the 88th minute, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 went down inside the penalty area after a challenge with Vitor Reis, taking a blow to the face and immediately appealing for a spot-kick. However, referee Javier Alberola Rojas waved play on, judging that the foul did not merit a penalty.<\/p>\n<p>Read also: Video: New racism scandal&#8230; Spanish club president chases Muslim players with pork!<\/p>\n<p>TV replays later showed clear contact with Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s face as he went for goal, fuelling post-match debate.\n<\/p>\n<p>Mbapp\u00e9 required pitch-side treatment for a nosebleed.\n<\/p>\n<p>Sources close to Real Madrid argue that the controversy was compounded by the way the incident was broadcast, since initial footage failed to capture the extent of the bleeding. and many believe this omission may have affected both the initial assessment and any potential Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review.<\/p>\n<p>Read also: An \u201cunusual\u201d move\u2026 Flick announces Barcelona\u2019s squad for the Madrid clash<\/p>\n<p>On El Chiringuito, journalist Juanfe Sanz reported that the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) would review the incident, explaining: \u201cThe case will be included in Tuesday\u2019s review period. The CTA meets on Monday, and no collective decision has been made yet.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>Sanz added, referring to what he expects from the assessment: \u201cAlthough it is not 100% certain, I have a feeling they will say it is a penalty and that VAR should not intervene.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>He highlighted a critical issue with the footage available to the video review room during the match, explaining that VAR officials lacked access to several camera angles. He emphasised that \u201conly one camera showed clear evidence of bleeding\u201d, which, in his view, left the video review room \u201csomewhat blind\u201d to a key detail that should have prompted a more thorough review.<\/p>\n<p>Read also: Confusion in Madrid&#8230; Arbeloa \u2018keeps his decision under wraps\u2019 ahead of the Munich clash<\/p>\n<p>Sanz concluded by stressing that clearer on-field communication could have been decisive: if the referee had alerted the video room to the bleeding and the player\u2019s treatment, the review might have zeroed in on that shot and expanded the search across all available angles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Real Madrid drew 1\u20131 with Girona last Friday at the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u in a game where refereeing controversies&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[416,85,82,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-3247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-madrid","8":"tag-k-mbappe","9":"tag-laliga","10":"tag-madrid","11":"tag-real-madrid"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}