BARCELONA: Spanish league president Javier Tebas lashed out at Real Madrid on Thursday, saying the club leadership has “lost its mind” for accusing Spain’s referees of being biased against the defending champion.
The head of La Liga said it was considering taking legal action for the letter that Madrid published this week in which they accused the league of being “adulterated” to favor other clubs.
Tebas told reporters, “They have built up an exaggerated tale of victimization that is completely baseless with, in my opinion, the goal of undermining the competition. It is completely over the top. They have lost their minds.”
The letter was sent two days after Madrid felt they were hurt by alleged refereeing mistakes in a 1-0 loss at Espanyol. Madrid mostly complained of a hard foul on Kylian Mbappé by Espanyol defender Carlos Romero in the 60th minute. Romero was shown a yellow card but Madrid felt he should have been sent off with a straight red card. Romero went on to score the winner.
After a video review, the officiating crew considered the yellow card was appropriate. Madrid said in their four-page letter that the performance of the VAR and the officiating crew was “scandalous.”
The club said the refereeing in the Espanyol game represented the “culmination of a completely discredited refereeing system whose decisions against Real Madrid have reached a point that the adulteration and manipulation of the competition cannot be ignored.”
Also, Madrid published a four-minute video on their club website titled “The global scandal continues to escalate” of clips of the foul by Romero on Mbappé and quotes for media outlets that considered it worth of a red card.
Tebas hit back at Real Madrid’s club television for routinely producing video packages that allegedly showed how certain referees made calls against the team. He said Real Madrid TV “calls referees corrupt.”
Madrid collected their 36th Spanish league title and their 15th European Cup – both records – last season. They lead La Liga by one point before playing second-placed Atletico Madrid on Saturday.
Rival fans — and most neutrals — have been puzzled by Madrid’s complaints about being systematically hurt by the refs.
“It’s just silly,” Atletico forward Antoine Griezmann said about the letter.
“We have to leave the referees alone. They have enough on their hands dealing with us players to on top of that have to handle this silliness from off the pitch.”
La Liga president slams Real Madrid for complaints about referees
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La Liga president slams Real Madrid for complaints about referees
- Tebas told reporters, “They have built up an exaggerated tale of victimization that is completely baseless with, in my opinion, the goal of undermining the competition”
- The letter was sent two days after Madrid felt they were hurt by alleged refereeing mistakes in a 1-0 loss at Espanyol
PSG star Hakimi faces trial for alleged rape
- The 27-year-old Moroccan international denies any wrongdoing
- “I contest it and everything proves that it is false,” Hakimi wrote on X
PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain footballer Achraf Hakimi, a key player in their Champions League-winning side last season, is to stand trial charged with raping a young woman, his lawyer and a French prosecutor told AFP Tuesday.
In February 2023, a woman then aged 24 told police in Val-De-Marne southeast of Paris that Hakimi had raped her.
The 27-year-old Moroccan international, who played a pivotal role in Morocco becoming the first African and Arab side to reach the World Cup semifinals when they made the last four in 2022, denies any wrongdoing.
“Today, a rape accusation is enough to justify a trial, even though I contest it and everything proves that it is false,” he wrote on X on Tuesday.
“I await this trial calmly, which will allow the truth to come out publicly.”
Hakimi’s lawyer Fanny Colin said a trial had been ordered and the prosecutor in the Nanterre suburb of Paris confirmed it.
“A trial has been ordered on the basis of an accusation that rests solely on the word of a woman who obstructed all investigations, refused all medical examinations and DNA tests, refused to allow her mobile phone to be examined, and refused to give the name of a key witness,” Colin said.
The plaintiff said she met Hakimi in January 2023 on Instagram and went to his home in a taxi ordered by the player, a police source said at the time.
She claimed that the player kissed her, touched her without her consent and then raped her.
She said she managed to push him away and text a friend, who came to pick her up.
PSG coach Luis Enrique when asked about it at Tuesday’s press conference, ahead of the Champions League play-off second leg match with Monaco, said: “This matter is in the hands of the authorities.”
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, said her client was relieved to hear the case was going to court.
She said the judiciary had been exemplary in handling the case.
But its treatment in general showed “there are still areas where the #MeToo movement has not yet breached the sound barrier, chiefly in men’s football,” she added.
Hakimi, born in Spain to a Moroccan mother, trained with Real Madrid making his senior debut for them in 2017.
He was also one of Morocco’s superstars during the Africa Cup of Nations, with the host team making it to the final where they lost in a chaotic climax to the tournament to Senegal.
Hakimi joined PSG in 2021, after stints with Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan.
