“Help from a neutral area”: ​​Real Madrid opponent is annoyed by referee errors

“Help from a neutral area”
Real Madrid opponent is annoyed by referee errors

02.04.2025, 11:47 a.m.

Only in the extension of the semi-final second leg of the Copa del Rey does Real Sociedad San Sebastian fail due to the favorite Real Madrid. However, the circumstances of the outsider coach ensure moods.

It is usually Real Madrid that shouts his anger beyond referee services into the world. The royal recently scolded the “highlight of a completely discredited referee system”, “whose decisions against Real Madrid have achieved a point where the falsification and manipulation of the competition can no longer be ignored.” After the semi -final second leg of the Spanish Cup against Real Sociedad San Sebastian, it was the opponent’s coach who was annoyed.

Imanol Alguacil spoke that Madrid’s entry into the final was favored by an obvious wrong decision by the referees. “We have left because they had help in an area that must be neutral,” he said after the exciting 4: 4 (3: 4, 3: 4, 1: 1) after extension that Madrid had served from the first leg to progress due to the 1-0 advance.

Alguacil meant the goal of Aurelien Tchouameni for the meantime 3: 3 in the 86th minute – and the referee decision that preceded this. The Frenchman headed after a corner that was created from an offside position by Kylian Mbappé. “It’s offside, and it is always whistled. I don’t know why it wasn’t that time …” said Alguacil. “It is completely clear to me that they would not have given the gate if it had happened in the other penalty area.”

“You didn’t whistle it, and that’s it”

Real Sociedad’s attacker Mikel Oyarzabal, who had enforced the extension for the outsider with his goal to 4: 3, made a decisive mistake: “For me, Mbappé is at the third goal of Real Madrid.” There were big protests in the field immediately in front of the corner.

In the sports newspaper “AS”, the former FIFA referee Eduardo Iturralde González confirmed the impressions of Alguacil and Oyarzabal: “Mbappé, which is at the side position, could hinder the defender of Real Sociedad.” He also explained why the video assistant could no longer intervene after the goal: the corner after the offside position is considered a new move, which is why the irregular advantage of Mbappé no longer plays a role in the question of whether it is a regular goal.

“You didn’t whistle it, and that’s it,” said Real Sociedad coach Alguacil. A conclusion that Real Madrid would hardly have chosen if the scene had taken place with exchanged roles. After all, the Madrilenen had repeatedly polished against the referees in the past few weeks and fabuled from “strange things” “everyone saw”. Javier Tebas, President of the Spanish League, had then summed up that the real bosses had “lost the mind” and “built a sacrificial history”.

According to his referee criticism, Alguacil, on the other hand, preferred to focus on his team, whose performance “stays in my heart” on this nerve-wracking evening. Despite the hit by Antonio Rüdiger, who averted the penalty shootout in the 115th minute with the equalizer to 4: 4 and ensured that Madrid was in the cup final for the 41st time and that after the 21st triumph in the Copa del Rey.