Real Madrid President Calls Into Question the Standard of Spanish Referees
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has called into questioning the quality refereeing currently in La Liga, suggesting that officials are not always performing at the 'top level' in games.
"The refereeing class could clearly be improved. Sometimes it's not at the top [level], as happened in that Real Madrid and Barcelona match," Perez is quoted as saying by Marca after appearing on Spanish radio this week.
Perez was of course referring to the recent Spanish Super Cup game between Real and fierce rivals Barcelona in which Cristiano Ronaldo was controversially sent off and later issued with a five-game ban after visibly pushing referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea in frustration.
"I have never spoken badly of referees and I did not tell [interim Spanish FA president Juan Luis] Larrea that the referees were treating Real Madrid unfairly," Perez clarified.
"What I said was that it didn't make sense that the talk was about the referee after a match as big as Barcelona against Real Madrid."
Ronaldo missed the second leg of the Supercopa as Real lifted the trophy, and has been sidelined for the first two La Liga games of the season so far, with Los Blancos collecting four points after a 3-0 win over Deportivo and a draw with 2-2 Valencia.
He will further miss this weekend's home game against Levante and the trip to San Sebastian to face Real Sociedad later this month. In between, Ronaldo will be eligible for the opening game of Real's Champions League defence against APOEL as his suspension is only domestic.
