Villarreal explodes against the refereeing: "If it´s already difficult to win at the Bernabéu, it´s much harder this way"

The midfielder Santi Comesaña did not hide his frustration with the refereeing of Guillermo Cuadra Fernández and stated that “if it’s already difficult to win at the Santiago Bernabéu,” with the decisions made by the referee it becomes “much more complicated.”

Comesaña´s Criticism of the Refereeing

The player explained that the team had started with a clear plan: “We came here with the hope of winning and getting something positive. We started the match well, in a medium block and with the idea of quickly counterattacking, and it worked well for us. But then the goal comes, which Vinícius shoots, it rebounds off me and ends up going in… that’s when we lost the match,” he commented in statements to DAZN. Comesaña also expressed his disagreement with the penalty awarded by the referee: “And then comes the penalty. For me, it has to be something more, it’s a penalty that hurts us a lot because with 1-0 we were still in the game. You just have to see how he falls (Vinícius), he falls with both feet…”. Finally, the midfielder assessed the expulsion of his teammate Mouriño, an action he considered decisive: “Then you have to see the expulsion (of Mouriño), he puts himself in front (of Vinícius) and gets sent off. If it’s already difficult to win at the Bernabéu, with this kind of thing it’s much more complicated.”

A Controversial Expulsion that Changed the Course

The Villarreal was left with one player less just after narrowing the gap in the score with 2-1. The action that triggered the red card came when Mouriño tried to stop Vinícius by placing his hand on his shoulder, but the Brazilian fell to the ground exaggerating the contact and the referee interpreted the play as an aggression. With ten men, the team led by Marcelino found themselves without real options to equalize and ended up conceding the third goal, scored by Mbappé after a defensive error. The match concluded with a painful defeat for the yellows, who continue to struggle to find the formula to score points at the Santiago Bernabéu.