Ortiz Arias handed 0.25 rating after ‘terrifying’ Madrid derby refereeing display

Referee Ortiz Arias has been given a rating of just 0.25 out of 10 after his controversial performance in Atletico Madrid’s 2-1 win over Real Madrid in the Madrid derby.

The match, played in La Liga’s seventh round of fixtures, attracted strong criticism from Archivo VAR, a website specialising in disputed refereeing decisions.

Archivo VAR said Ortiz Arias’ display was so poor that it could lead to him being removed from refereeing duties. Its assessment concluded that the referee had made an extraordinary number of errors during the game.

“Terrifying refereeing from Arias, which will send him directly to refereeing suspension after the derby,” Archivo VAR said. “It was impossible for him to make more mistakes than he did.”

The report described Ortiz Arias as a referee who, in some matches, appears to believe he is “above right and wrong”.

“He stands in front of you seriously and convinces you of something that never happened,” it said. “The problem is that this approach cannot be used in every match, and this was one of those occasions.”

Archivo VAR said the referee had twice chosen not to show Samuel Baena a yellow card, instead issuing light warnings to the coaches.

It then criticised a decision involving Jude Bellingham and Cuti Romero. Bellingham was initially booked for a stamping incident, although Archivo VAR said the yellow card should have been shown to Romero.

Ortiz Arias subsequently went to the review screen, apparently because of confusion over the identity of the player involved. Archivo VAR said the rules did not allow the offence itself to be reviewed, but the outcome was that the yellow card was transferred from Bellingham to Romero.

The report added that the incident did not warrant a red card.

Another major point of criticism involved Kang-in Lee’s challenge on Fede Valverde. Archivo VAR said the South Korean midfielder’s tackle caused the Real Madrid player to twist his ankle directly in front of the referee, yet no yellow card was shown.

“Kang-in Lee left the incident laughing,” the report said.

Archivo VAR also highlighted a challenge inside the penalty area involving Dean Huijsen and Giuliano Simeone. Huijsen held Simeone despite having no possibility of playing the ball, but Ortiz Arias showed only a yellow card.

The website said the incident was clear enough to warrant a straight red card, rather than the booking shown from the outset.

It concluded with a sarcastic assessment of the referee’s mark: “He gets 0.25 because he wrote his name on the exam paper.”

A video shared by Archivo VAR also labelled the VAR performance at the Metropolitano “a resounding embarrassment”, claiming Lee had driven his studs into Valverde’s ankle without attempting to play the ball.

It described the challenge as a clear straight red-card offence and said Ortiz Arias did not show even a yellow card, while VAR official Trujillo Suarez “passed over the issue”.