Real Madrid TV Criticizes Referee Over Mbappé's Penalty Drama
The final whistle had barely gone in Seville when the real noise began.
Real Madrid had just lost 1-0 to Real Betis, Kylian Mbappé had seen a stoppage-time penalty saved, and within hours the club’s official television channel was accusing the referee of a “technical error” that, in its view, should have forced the spot-kick to be retaken.
The flashpoint in the 94th minute
The controversy centres on the 94th minute. With Madrid chasing an equaliser, Mbappé stepped up from the spot, only to see his effort stopped by the Betis goalkeeper. As Betis cleared their lines, white shirts immediately surrounded the referee, insisting a Betis defender had encroached into the area before the ball was struck.
The referee waved play on. For him, it was a matter of interpretation. Game over. Three points to Betis.
But that was only the beginning.
Minutes earlier, Carlos Espi had already seen a Real Madrid goal ruled out, adding fuel to the sense of grievance. When Mbappé’s penalty stayed out and no retake was ordered, Madrid’s frustration boiled over — and their TV channel took the lead in the backlash.
Real Madrid TV’s furious breakdown
According to “AS”, the incident has quickly become one of the most debated moments of the opening rounds of the new La Liga season. Real Madrid TV devoted a detailed segment to the penalty, freezing frames and dissecting positions inside the box.
Their argument was blunt: the penalty should have been taken again.
The channel claimed that a Betis defender had his right foot on the penalty area line at the exact moment Mbappé struck the ball, then stepped fully into the area and directly influenced the outcome of the play. It also highlighted Héctor Bellerín, alleging he too had one foot touching the line when the kick was taken.
From there, the tone turned blistering. Real Madrid TV branded the decision “a contradiction from the referee” when measured against the laws of the game, and expressed astonishment “that a referee does not know his own regulations”. The verdict was damning: “This is a technical error.”
The criticism didn’t stop at that single phase of play. Linking it back to Espi’s disallowed goal, the channel went further, suggesting a double standard in how similar incidents might be treated depending on the club involved.
“Had this happened with Barcelona, the penalty would have been retaken,” the broadcast claimed. “And had Espi’s goal been for Barcelona, perhaps it would not have been disallowed.”
Oversight, incompetence – or both?
Real Madrid TV framed the entire episode as a failure of officiating. In its breakdown of the sequence, the channel stated: “The foul (during the taking of the penalty) was not awarded, whether due to oversight or incompetence.” It argued that this was precisely why the spot-kick was not ordered to be retaken.
The refereeing team, for its part, maintained that Marc Bartra did not step on the line, a key point in their defence of the decision. For them, there was no infringement that required intervention.
Madrid’s channel countered that even if Bartra never actually touched the line, he still charged forward early and intervened directly in the play, which in their view should have been enough to trigger a retake under the laws.
That is where the two sides stand: one insisting the law was correctly applied, the other convinced a clear encroachment was ignored and a crucial decision in the title race went the wrong way.
The league season is only just beginning, and already one penalty in stoppage time has opened a fault line between Real Madrid and the refereeing establishment.
