Real Madrid are receiving more and more yellow cards for dissent – ​​and they’re not happy about it

It’s a striking statistic: Real Madrid have already received nine yellow cards for dissent after seven games this La Liga season, three more than any other team ahead of this weekend’s matches and just five fewer than their total from last season. At this point last campaign, they had two.

Things came to a head in their last match, a nervy 3-2 win over Deportivo Alaves at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday evening. Federico Valverde, Vinicius Junior and Luka Modric were all warned for protesting in a feverish context where supporters were chanting against the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).

Head coach Carlo Ancelotti said his team had to “adapt to the new rules” after that match – a reference to referees cracking down on dissent this season. In their previous match against Espanyol, Kylian Mbappe received a yellow after raising his hand in the air dismissively towards referee Jose Luis Munuera Montero.

Refereeing is a hot topic in Spain and refereeing controversy is never far away at Real Madrid. Last season, Jude Bellingham was suspended for two matches for clashing with referee Jesus Gil Manzano after a controversial decision to blow at full-time as Madrid attacked. Madrid were also investigated after criticizing referees on their official TV channel before a match against Sevilla.

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What happened?

Football’s law-making body, the International Football Association Board, says a player can be cautioned for “dissidence by speech or action”, which includes “throwing or kicking drink bottles or other objects” and “actions that show a clear lack of respect for match officials, for example, sarcastic clapping.”

Last season, La Liga teams received 258 yellow cards for dissent in 380 matches, a rate of 0.68 per game. It’s a small sample size, but there have already been 58 in 70 games this season, a rate of 0.83 per game. This jump is hard to ignore.

This is because Spanish referees are taking these protests more seriously – more on that later. Madrid’s yellow cards for dissent this season are as follows and illustrate this new approach:

Vinicius Jr was shown three cards to express his frustration. Against Real Betis this month, he fought with defender Youssouf Sabaly and raised his hands when play continued. He was seen doing the same thing, pictured below, when Bellingham was brought down against Espanyol while launching into a dribble – the Englishman was also booked for protesting the decision and appeared to swear at referee Munuera Montero (an incident that was not reported). ).

Against Alaves, Vinicius Jr was shown a yellow card after central defender Santiago Mourino punched him as he prepared to cross (match footage did not show his immediate reaction). He was perhaps lucky not to receive a second yellow as he was substituted after 90 minutes, pointing to the fourth official and laughing as he indicated six minutes of added time.

Dani Carvajal received two yellow cards for dissent, one for approaching referee Mateo Busquets Ferrer after the full-time whistle in Madrid’s 1-1 draw at Las Palmas last month. Against Betis, the Spaniard was booked after Abde Ezzalzouli fell and won a free kick – seemingly without any contact from Carvajal, who then hit the ground in frustration. While being shown a yellow card, Carvajal appeared to use a Spanish expletive.

The strangest incident was Mbappé’s yellow card around the half-hour mark in the match against Espanyol.

The Frenchman was called offside after a long ball forward from Valverde. Mbappe waved his hand dismissively at Munuera Montero, who then called out to him and repeated the gesture while pulling out his yellow card.

Why do Spanish referees do this?

The crackdown on dissent stems from this summer’s European Championship in Germany, when a UEFA initiative was introduced so that only team captains could approach referees. Other players risked being warned if they did this.

Sources at the RFEF – the organization responsible for supplying referees for La Liga matches – said a letter was sent to officials in August informing them of the changes for this season, including this rule. He adds that protests are always punished if they are too strong, including those from club captains.

These same sources – who, like all those mentioned in this article, wished to remain anonymous to protect their relationships – also said they were not surprised by the reaction coming from Madrid.

How did Real Madrid react?

Badly, as expected.

The club’s official television channel, Real Madrid TV, summed up referee Alejandro Muniz Ruiz’s performance in the match against Alavés as follows: “Poor refereeing. Abuse of authority, provocative and arrogant attitude.

Comments were also made questioning the system. “Something is brewing,” said one of the channel’s journalists. “They are not bad at refereeing, they referee under suspicion. The issue of boxes is serious and at the rate we are going… Real Madrid is facing a regime.

Even the match production was supposed to be suspect. “The filmmakers developed a story,” they continued. “The production of Mediapro (the company responsible for La Liga broadcasts), which will be broadcast on television, has been going on for several years and at RMTV we want to put an end to this form of manipulation.”

Madrid fans have been even more vocal in their criticism of referees since it emerged that Barcelona had paid 7.3 million euros to the former vice-president of Spanish football’s refereeing committee , José Maria Enriquez Negreira. He and Barca denied that the payments he received constituted wrongdoing, with the club saying he was hired as an “external consultant” who provided reports “related to professional refereeing”.

Slogans such as “Corruption in the federation!” » were regularly chanted. at the Bernabeu when referees make controversial decisions. There were also cries of “Negreira, Negreira!” » during the match against Alavés, where the atmosphere became much warmer. Both chants came from the main supporters’ stand at the south end of the stadium, overseen by the club, but were accompanied by much of the Bernabeu.

But Madrid sources believe not everyone is so furious. Ancelotti was more pragmatic, although he complained to the referees after the final whistle in his team’s last two matches.

“We have to get used to it and we haven’t gotten used to it yet,” he said. “We have received yellow cards three or four times for protesting and we must avoid that. Fair or unfair, we must adapt to the new rules.

And the other clubs?

Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, Real’s two biggest rivals, do not appear to have been as affected by the crackdown.

Barca have received 14 yellow cards for dissent during the 2023-24 season and, before last night’s match against Osasuna, had received two this campaign. Atletico received 13 warnings for similar offenses last season, but Diego Simeone’s side have been booked once for protesting this season.

Additional contributor: Thom Harris

(Top photo: Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)