Atlético Madrid draws a clear line between Barcelona’s official complaint and the Rojiblancos’ own formal request for clarification to the Referees’ Technical Committee. That request followed the overturned red card shown to Gerard Martín, and it cited post-derby tweets as evidence of the Blaugrana’s “media machine”.
At the time, Atlético argued that the decision contradicted the explanation given for a similar incident in the Betis vs. Rayo Vallecano match, suggesting that the VAR intervention to overturn referee Busquets Ferrer’s original red card was incorrect. The club accepted those explanations, even though they confirmed they had been aggrieved in the La Liga encounter.
Insiders at Atlético still ask, with a hint of sarcasm, how Barça or Real Madrid would have reacted to a similar scenario—pointing specifically to the Julián Álvarez penalty (a spot-kick that UEFA later stated should have been re-taken rather than counted as missed) during the shoot-out that saw them knocked out of last season’s Champions League by Los Blancos.
