What's behind the refereeing scandal against Real Madrid in Valencia

The refereeing collective has been in a bottomless pit for several seasons now. The VAR was never like that World Cup in Russia that seemed to solve all the problems and prevent Henry from scoring another decisive goal with the help of a handball.

But Spain is different. Although in the rest of Europe there has been controversy. In this country it has been a clamour fuelled by the fanaticism of some media and journalists enlisted in the ranks of radical criticism and the defence of certain colours above the truth.   

The day will come when Real Madrid's famous videos will reach Netflix and become an object of worship. For the moment, these minutes of images against the refereeing collective have not gone down well with the players or the protagonists, although they claim they have never seen one. Sevilla have already denounced the campaign, Xavi says they influence how Barça are whistled and Tebas has joined the complaints because they tarnish his product.

It all seemed like an exaggeration of madridismo gone mad. An order "from above" because they want to show that the domestic competition is a misery and the Superliga is the future. Until Gil Manzano arrived and proved them right. Not so much that there is a campaign or a black hand against Real Madrid, but that the level of referees in Spain has fallen a lot and their relationship with the VAR has made them worse.  

Mateu Lahoz has retired to the media to denounce that the Technical Committee of Referees is driving its employees crazy and that the Negreira case has tarnished the name of the collective for life. But you only have to look at some clamorous decisions where they have failed to the point of thinking that, either they are very bad, or they have something against certain teams, not only Real Madrid lives of complaining about refereeing decisions.   

The reality is that Gil Manzano warned that the corner Real Madrid were going to take at Mestalla was the last play. He could have whistled for the finish as the ball flew over the area or when it was cleared, he put his whistle to his mouth when Brahim controlled and he ended up whistling when he crossed. Only he knows what went through his head not to have stopped play earlier. What's more, this kind of play is common in football and, as soon as a player touches the ball coming in from the corner, they whistle loudly for the end so as not to allow second chances.   

Bellingham scored a "fucking goal" that didn't get on the scoreboard and could cost him two games for disregarding the referee. It doesn't matter. Real Madrid have La Liga in the bag. Girona are deflating after losing to Mallorca and Barça can't either, especially now that injuries to Pedri and De Jong are putting everything against them.   

If we remove the background noise, the videos commissioned to complain about the Negreira case and the grateful stomachs that defend the club in talk shows, we are left with a deteriorated refereeing system in permanent doubt. Gil Manzano will not go to the fridge, nor is his participation in the European Championship at risk. The CTA does not seem to have seen wrong in the way he whistles the end of the match. They are closing ranks around the referees as in the times of Villar and Sánchez Arminio where they repeated over and over again that we had the best referees in Europe.  

It is clear that something has gone out of control in this profession. The pressure is no longer a newspaper front page with a referee's face and a target on his head, now it is many minutes of talk on radio and television. Official channels subjecting the profession to videos and a public opinion with bloodshot eyes waiting for a mistake to attack mercilessly.  

The VAR whistles from Las Rozas plays that the referee does not see on the pitch, zooms in on minimal frictions or squeezes the play to find a reason to overturn everything else. On one side, active referees, on the other, retired referees or referees who are going to whistle the following week supervised by other colleagues... style books that change every week and plays that lose their naturalness after reviews of more than five minutes.   

Blue cards are not going to solve anything. Referees are becoming less and less referees and football is becoming less and less football. This is not a Real Madrid problem, it is a problem of a squeezed and suffocated sport that is difficult to solve.