Dean Huijsen was sent off for Real Madrid last Saturday, then everyone went home and got on quietly with the rest of their week.
In case you are catching up on what’s happened since that red card, only half of the above sentence is true. Huijsen has since found himself at the centre of a bitter and bizarre dispute, the latest example of the bad blood between Madrid and Spain’s football authorities.
Madrid reacted angrily to the 20-year-old centre-back seeing red and have had two appeals against the decision rejected by the Spanish FA, along with another to the country’s Administrative Sports Court (TAD). The Spanish FA’s responses on the subject covered more than 4,000 words.
Those appeals were all turned down despite the Spanish FA’s referee’s committee saying match official Jesus Gil Manzano made a mistake in sending Huijsen off, as part of a new weekly round-up commenting on controversial decisions. They said the Dutch-born Spain international should have been shown a yellow card.
Allow us to explain exactly what has happened…
Saturday
In the 2-1 victory at Real Sociedad, Huijsen sees red for a challenge on Mikel Oyarzabal in the 32nd minute as the forward races through on goal. Oyarzabal is around 40 metres from the Madrid goal with centre-back partner Eder Militao close by but Thibaut Courtois out of his box.
Referee Gil Manzano decides Huijsen should go — his report later said it was the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity and the VAR Jorge Figueroa Vazquez did not intervene. The club appeal the decision.
Coach Xabi Alonso says that Huijsen was “angry and relieved with the team’s victory” in his post-match news conference, while saying “there was a lot of space and Oyarzabal didn’t have the ball under control”.
“For me, it was a yellow card because Militao was close by, the ball wasn’t under control, they were 40 metres away,” Alonso adds.
“After seeing the replay, I haven’t changed my mind. He (the referee) gave me his explanation and I wasn’t convinced, so we’ll leave it at that. From that point on, the context of the game changed, playing practically 60 minutes with one less player.”
Cameras belonging to Spanish broadcaster Movistar Plus capture Alonso telling Gil Manzano “Jesus (his first name), I don’t want to, but you make me think bad things” and arguing that Militao was next to Huijsen.
Following Alonso’s news conference, the club’s official channel Real Madrid TV announces the club are preparing to submit a report to FIFA detailing “what is happening in Spanish football with regard to refereeing”. It is just the latest incident in the long-running dispute between the club and La Liga/the Spanish Football Federation over officiating in Spain.
Tuesday
Spanish football’s refereeing body, the Comite Tecnico de Arbitros (CTA), releases its weekly round-up of controversial decisions in the top two leagues, featuring Huijsen’s red card (from 1.42 in the following video).
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In that round-up, CTA spokesperson Marta Frias admits an error was made when establishing “the difference between a promising attack and a clear goalscoring opportunity”.
“If we consider that (Militao) could arrive to challenge for the ball, the appropriate sanction would be a yellow card for a promising attack,” Frias says. “If, as the referee interpreted, the distance made that challenge impossible, it would be a clear goalscoring opportunity, punished with an expulsion.
“These two scenarios are open to interpretation, so this committee understands that 100 per cent of the necessary conditions are not fulfilled for DOGSO (denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity) and that the most appropriate sanction would have been a yellow card.”
Frias adds that the VAR should only intervene in “clear, obvious and manifest errors” and that this comes under what the CTA calls “grey areas” where decisions are open to interpretation. “So the decision should have stayed in the hands of the main referee and the VAR acted correctly in not intervening,” she adds.
Regardless, it gives Madrid hope that their appeal will be successful…
Wednesday
Madrid come from behind on Tuesday night to beat Marseille 2-1 in their Champions League opener — with Huijsen playing the full 90 minutes — but they receive bad news the following day. Their appeal against his red card is rejected by the RFEF, meaning the centre-back will miss their next La Liga game against Espanyol on Saturday.
The 1,063-word statement put out by the RFEF’s disciplinary committee details Madrid’s argument that Huijsen’s challenge did not prevent a clear goalscoring opportunity. It adds that a club looking to correct an error in a referee’s report must provide “evidence that unequivocally, beyond reasonable doubt, proves either the non-existence of the event recorded in the match report or its obvious arbitrariness”. The club did not use the CTA video released on Tuesday as they had submitted their appeal before this was published.
Huijsen played all 90 minutes against Marseille (Maria Gracia Jimenez/Soccrates/Getty Images)
The statement goes on to say that assessing a clear goalscoring opportunity is a “technical decision” which is “the exclusive responsibility of the referees and cannot be reviewed by disciplinary bodies once the infringement has been established” — stating that the disciplinary committee cannot “re-referee” games.
RFEF sources — who, like all those cited here, asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships — say the disciplinary committee’s report had already been completed when the CTA video had been produced. But they say that is simply a recommendation and cannot be used as an argument to change a referee’s decision. Those sources pointed to how former Premier League official Howard Webb — now in charge of refereeing in England — analyses and critiques decisions on the Match Officials Mic’d Up show, which airs periodically during the season, and that contradicting referees’ decisions in that case is not a problem.
People close to Huijsen argued this kind of situation does not happen in the Premier League because the rules and style of play are different, and added that the player thinks he will have to get used to Spanish referees.
They accept the referee can make mistakes but did not understand why VAR did not act when they viewed the error as clear and obvious.
Thursday
Madrid re-appeal that decision to the RFEF’s appeals committee, but receive the same response.
The club state in that appeal that they do not intend to “re-referee” the match but refer to video evidence to try and demonstrate it was a promising attack rather than a clear goalscoring opportunity. They argue the foul happened “a long way from the goal, with no linear direction of the ball, no effective control by the attacker and the presence of a defender in a covering position”.
Madrid add that the CTA had “expressly” acknowledged the requirements for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity had not been met in their round-up video.
In the appeal, Madrid cite the case of Antony, Real Betis’ ex-Manchester United forward who was sent off in his side’s game against Getafe in February. The disciplinary committee corrected the referee’s report in that case and allowed him to play in Betis’ following game against Real Madrid, reassessing the severity of the foul.
The appeals committee accepted the CTA’s recommendation on Huijsen’s foul as evidence, but insisted the referee is the “sole and final authority” in charge of the match and said Madrid had omitted part of the CTA analysis, when the refereeing body said VAR was right not to intervene in a “grey area”. The appeals committee therefore upheld the referee’s decision.
Madrid remained pessimistic but submitted a third appeal to the TAD, an administrative court that forms part of the Spanish government’s department for sport, but acts independently of it.
That evening, Huijsen posts an Instagram story showing his discontent with the decision: “The mistake is admitted, but I am still suspended. Great image for Spanish football.”
Friday
A day before the game against Espanyol — and still waiting for the TAD to rule on their appeal – the club took it for granted that Huijsen would not play.
“On the one hand, I’m not surprised,” said Alonso in his pre-match news conference. “I would have liked a different decision, but it’s not going to be possible. If a mistake is accepted, there should be consequences, but no.”
The player’s camp also began to accept that at least Huijsen would be able to rest for a weekend. When the official squad list for the game was announced, Huijsen was not included — and the TAD rejected Madrid’s appeal once again.
One red card, three appeals, and just another week in Madrid’s bitter dispute with Spanish referees.
(Top image: Huijsen argues his case to referee Gil Manzano; Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
