Real Madrid face three contentious refereeing calls in Valencia clash

Real Madrid were involved in three contentious refereeing incidents during the first half of their La Liga meeting with Valencia on Saturday.

The match, played in the 12th round of the competition, was assessed by former referee Iturralde Gonzalez, the refereeing analyst for AS and Cadena SER.

The first incident came in the 12th minute when Valencia midfielder Guido challenged Yan Diomande. Guido slipped into the tackle and made contact with the ball, but did so with considerable force.

“Simply touching the ball does not remove the player’s responsibility for the danger of the challenge, because he went in with excessive force,” Iturralde said in comments published by AS.

He added that the tackle had the potential to cause a serious injury.

“It was a challenge that could have caused a serious injury. If he had made full contact, he could have kept him out for eight months,” he said.

Iturralde concluded that Guido should have been shown a yellow card for the challenge on Diomande.

Maffeo incidents also questioned

A similar decision was highlighted in the 24th minute when Maffeo tackled Cucurella, the Real Madrid full-back.

“It is a completely clear yellow card because he came from behind, had no chance of competing for the ball and targeted the knee,” Iturralde said.

Maffeo was later booked after pushing Kylian Mbappe, although there were calls for him to be sent off. The incident could have been interpreted as a direct red-card offence because Maffeo was the last defender.

However, Iturralde said the situation was open to more than one interpretation under the laws of the game.

“The regulations state that the ball must be under the player’s control, or that there must be a genuine opportunity to control it, although applying that to this situation requires a great deal of imagination,” he said.

Despite that assessment, Iturralde believed Maffeo should already have been carrying a yellow card when the incident involving Mbappe took place.

“He should have received a yellow card at that moment,” he added.

The three incidents occurred during a first half that prompted debate over whether Valencia’s Maffeo and Guido had been punished appropriately, while the decision not to issue a red card for the challenge on Mbappe was also questioned.