![\"Referee](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/7GPH2LH4WBBQVA6VB4IVPSTAFE.png\")
La falta de G\u00fcler a Fornals por la que el jugador del Real Madrid vio amarilla y la falta que le pudo costar la segunda al turco en el partido contra el Betis.Captura TV Movistar LaLiga<\/p>\nLaLiga EA Sports\u2019 fourth round of the 2026-27 season is underway, and former whistler Iturralde Gonz\u00e1lez, our resident refereeing analyst at AS, examined the most controversial incidents from the Friday evening opener. That game saw Real Madrid beaten by Real Betis in Seville.<\/p>\n
Real Betis vs Real Madrid key moment assessment<\/p>\n
Arda G\u00fcler risked a second yellow card in the 53rd minute. The Turkish midfielder received his first booking in first-half stoppage time for a foul on Fornals. Eight minutes after the restart, a challenge on Marc Roca could have led to his dismissal.<\/p>\n
Iturralde explained the incident on Carrusel: \u201cFor the first one, Hern\u00e1ndez Hern\u00e1ndez shows him the yellow card because he considers it to have stopped a promising attack, not because of the foul itself. Hern\u00e1ndez Hern\u00e1ndez had been very reluctant to show cards… The second incident is more deserving of a booking than the first, but that does not mean he believes the first one was not. Referees have had it drilled into them that a second yellow has to be for something much more serious than the first, which is not written anywhere in the Laws of the Game.\u201d<\/p>\n
La falta de G\u00fcler a Fornals por la que el jugador del Real Madrid vio amarilla y la falta que le pudo costar la segunda al turco en el partido contra el Betis.Captura TV Movistar LaLiga<\/p>\n
The closing stages brought a string of contentious incidents. Esp\u00ed scored in the 86th minute, but VAR ruled the goal out because the Madrid player was offside when he became involved in the buildup. \u201cThis year, thanks to the sensor in the ball and the automated system, the human factor has been reduced. Now, apart from the occasional incident in which the system cannot distinguish between defenders and attackers, EVERYTHING is done by a machine. And the images show that he is offside,\u201d Iturralde explained.<\/p>\n
Later, in the 93rd minute, Deossa conceded a penalty for a foul on Vinicius. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely clear,\u201d Iturralde said. Valles then saved Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s spot kick, but Madrid\u2019s players appealed for it to be retaken because the Betis player who cleared the rebound had encroached into the penalty area.<\/p>\n
Iturralde explained why he believed the penalty should have been retaken: \u201cPoor wording when drafting a rule creates confusion. It happened at the World Cup with mistaken identity, when the International Football Association Board eventually had to come out and say the rule was being applied incorrectly. This rule is more of a recommendation from the Technical Committee of Referees, and once again the wording is extremely unclear. It talks about a player\u2019s position at a restart and explains that, if the player is in the air, his position is determined by where his feet would be projected to land if they were touching the ground. That is a sentence that leaves room for interpretation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Committee will consider that he is not airborne because he has one foot on the ground outside the penalty area, even though the rest of his body and his other foot are inside. That is how the Technical Committee of Referees will interpret the rule. My interpretation is that if my body is inside the area while I am airborne, even if one foot is on the ground, the projected position of the other leg is what determines whether I have entered the box. The Committee will say on Tuesday that the decision not to retake the penalty was correct. But if you read the rule, it creates an enormous amount of doubt. It depends on how you choose to interpret it…\u201d<\/p>\n
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