Referee José Luis Munuera at the centre of a major controversy after his harsh red card for Jude Bellingham. As reactions continue to pour in, Marca has published several images of the official celebrating past results against Real Madrid.
Real Madrid is making headlines across all football media. Whether in Spain or elsewhere, Florentino Pérez’s club is generating a lot of controversy due to the ongoing refereeing disputes surrounding them. For weeks, Spanish referees have been making highly questionable decisions against Carlo Ancelotti’s side. Just days after Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz’s scandalous officiating during the match against Espanyol Barcelona, José Luis Munuera made another highly controversial decision involving Jude Bellingham on Saturday night during the 24th round of La Liga against Osasuna.
The major controversy involving Munuera
Having already ignored two clear penalties in Madrid’s favour and failed to issue multiple yellow cards to Osasuna players—who were seemingly focused on fouling and preventing Mbappé and Vinícius from playing—Munuera wasted no time in sending off Jude Bellingham just before half-time for allegedly insulting him. According to the referee’s account, the English midfielder had said, “fuck you.” However, footage from Movistar shows Real Madrid’s No. 5 actually saying “fuck off”—a phrase expressing frustration rather than a direct insult.
While Real Madrid awaits the outcome of their appeal against this controversial suspension—which could be overturned if the Spanish Football Federation acknowledges that Bellingham said “fuck off” rather than the more aggressive and insulting “fuck you”—Marca has taken a closer look at Munuera’s background. According to several sources, José Luis Munuera is clearly anti-Real Madrid.
The referee is an anti-Madridista
Back in 2019, Munuera Montero was spotted inside the VAR room celebrating a goal scored by Eibar against Real Madrid. In addition to this incident, which caused quite a stir, footage also shows the official in apparent camaraderie with Robert Lewandowski in the past. Before the start of a match, the referee can be seen warmly wishing the Catalan striker success, smiling broadly. With these damning revelations, it is hard not to believe that this referee holds a bias against Real Madrid, who have been locked in a battle with referees in recent months.
As Carlo Ancelotti stated in his post-match press conference, José Luis Munuera Montero was extremely tense throughout the game and made several questionable decisions, including the sending-off of Jude Bellingham. When all this evidence is considered, it is difficult not to suspect an orchestrated effort to prevent Real Madrid from winning La Liga this season. Hopefully, the RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation) will take the appropriate measures to ensure justice is served.
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