Spanish referees admit Kang-in Lee should have been sent off in Madrid derby

The Spanish Football Federation’s technical refereeing committee has concluded that Kang-in Lee should have received a red card for his challenge on Fede Valverde during Atletico de Madrid’s 2-1 victory over Real Madrid.

The committee also agreed that Dean Huijsen was correctly dismissed following a VAR review for his challenge on Giuliano Simeone inside the penalty area.

According to AS, the assessment found fault with several decisions made by referee Ortiz Arias during a controversial Madrid derby. The official failed to reach the correct decision in any of the three incidents examined, with VAR intervening in two of them.

The first review involved a mistake over the identity of the player who committed a foul. Ortiz Arias initially awarded the offence against Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham and showed him a yellow card.

VAR then alerted the referee that the foul had actually been committed by Cuti Romero against a Real Madrid player. The incident was considered serious enough to warrant consideration of a possible red card, although the committee said the difficulty of the decision justified the referee ultimately issuing only a yellow.

The clearest error, according to the committee, came when Kang-in Lee made a strong challenge on Valverde. The Atletico de Madrid player was not shown a card, and VAR did not intervene to review the incident.

The refereeing committee determined that the South Korea international should have been sent off, describing the failure to take any action as one of the most significant refereeing mistakes of the match.

By contrast, the committee judged the sending-off of Huijsen to be correct. The Real Madrid defender’s challenge on Giuliano Simeone inside the box was initially not punished with a red card, but VAR intervened and the decision was corrected.

Atletico de Madrid secured the points with a 2-1 win in a match that featured several contentious refereeing decisions. Alex Grimaldo and Jonathan David scored Atletico’s goals, while Antonio Rudiger was on target for Real Madrid.

The defeat was Real Madrid’s second under Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho this season, following their loss to Real Betis.

Atletico de Madrid’s victory took them to 16 points and second place in the table, five points behind leaders Barcelona. Real Madrid remained third on 15 points.