Real Madrid Files Complaint Against Referee

Real Madrid says it has filed a complaint against the referee who took charge of the team’s recent 4-2 La Liga win at Osasuna for “the negligent drafting” of his report about the match following the abuse aimed at star player Vinícius Jr. by supporters. The Spanish giant said that referee Juan Martínez Munuera “deliberately omitted the insults and humiliating shouts repeatedly directed towards our player … despite being warned insistently by our players at the same time they were occurring.”

In one video aired on Spanish TV and shared on social media, chants of “die Vinícius, die” can clearly be heard in the stadium, leading Real captain Dani Carvajal to turn to the referee and point to his ear in an apparent attempt to make Martínez Munuera aware of the abuse.

Real says it has filed the complaint to the Disciplinary Committee of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).

“Additionally, Real Madrid has also filed a complaint with this federative body in relation to the aforementioned insults and humiliating chants, and has forwarded them to the State Commission against Violence, Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in the Sports, so that those fans who uttered them are identified and punished,” the club added.

CNN has reached out to RFEF, La Liga, Spain’s High Council of Sport (CSD) and both the federal prosecutor and local prosecutor in Pamplona, where Osasuna’s El Sadar stadium is based, for comment. On Tuesday, the RFEF’s Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) said in a statement that it “wants to express its total and unconditional support” to Munuera against “the unfair accusations made by Real Madrid.”

The CTA added that, after reviewing audio from the match, no claims by Real Madrid players towards the referee regarding the abuse could be heard. In a statement on Tuesday, Osasuna said it wanted “to show its rejection of the insults — which had no racist references — that a minority proffered last Saturday at El Sadar. “Osasuna continues its mission to raise awareness and eradicate, however minor, any behavior that does not conform to the values of sport.”

Real says it has now expanded the complaint against “hate crimes and discrimination” it made on February 15 to Spain’s federal prosecutor following “racist and hateful insults” aimed at Vinícius during matches at Barcelona’s Montjuïc stadium and Atlético Madrid’s Metropolitano Stadium. It is just the latest in a long list of incidents of abuse aimed at Vinícius during matches in Spain over the past two seasons.

On X, the Brazilian replied to a video of Atlético fans allegedly chanting racist slurs about Vinícius outside of the Metropolitano Stadium prior to the team’s Champions League match against Inter Milan in Madrid on March 13, saying: “I hope you have already thought of their punishment, [Champions League and UEFA] it’s a sad reality that this happens even at games where I’m not present!”

Also, earlier this month, La Liga said it was “studying and analyzing the facts” around alleged racist abuse aimed at Vinícius at Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium on March 2. Valencia’s local prosecutor told CNN at the time that “there are no open investigation proceedings” regarding the incident.

La Liga – Spain’s top football division – told CNN in 2023 that it does not have the authority to punish clubs or fans for incidents of racist abuse._CNN