Spain’s Refereeing Technical Committee (CTA) have temporarily relieved match official César Muñiz Fernández of his duties following his performance in last night’s league meeting between Elche and Real Madrid.
Muñiz Fernández will not oversee any of the matches in Week 7 or in Week 8. Today, the Spanish Football Federation announced the referees designated to take charge of matches corresponding to Week 8 of the league.
Victoriano Sánchez Arminio, president of the Referees Technical Committee of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), threw Fernández under the bus on Thursday saying that “perhaps wasn’t at his best” when refereeing the Elche-Real Madrid game.
“The best man to talk about it is himself. I don’t know how he’s feeling, if he’s had some kind of family problem or something that has meant that perhaps he wasn’t at his best”, the president has said regarding the quality of refereeing given in Elche’s Martínez Valero stadium.
The decision by Fernández to award Real Madrid a penalty deep into stoppage time last night, from which Cristiano Ronaldo scored the match winner has divided opinion in Spain.
Real boss Carlo Ancelotti said this about the decision after the game:
“It’s difficult to talk about refereeing decisions. I don’t like to, because the position of the bench isn’t good. On the penalty, I’ve asked Pepe about it and he told me that it was a clear penalty.”
Elche left-back Edu Albácar had a very different opinion of the decision saying:
“Anyone who has seen the match will be able to say why Real Madrid have won,” he said. “It’s very clear: little details like the [Sergio] Ramos sending-off that should have been. As for the penalty, I’d rather not talk about it. They’re little details that mean Madrid win the match if they go in their favour.”
And Barcelona defender Gerard Pique also added his two cents to the controversy, tweeting this
Viendo una película de humor por el Canal + Liga.. Siempre va bien a estas horas de la noche!
— Gerard Piqué (@3gerardpique) September 25, 2013
For the non-Spanish speakers amongst you, that translates to:
Watching a comedy film on Canal+ Liga channel. Always goes down well at this time of night!
So here is the decision. Pepe is pulled down when going for the corner, but that happens on every set piece. Did you think it was a penalty?
