Real Madrid's television channel insists Kylian Mbappe's stoppage-time penalty against Real Betis should have been retaken, arguing that the referee's refusal to spot a foul inside the box sparked major controversy.
According to Spanish newspaper "AS", the penalty denied to Mbappe deep in stoppage time of Real Betis against Real Madrid has become one of the biggest talking points of the new La Liga season's opening rounds.
Carlos Espi had a Real Madrid goal chalked off minutes earlier. The real storm broke in the 94th minute, when the Real Betis goalkeeper saved the French forward's strike.
Real Madrid's players protested that a Real Betis player was inside the penalty area before the kick was taken.
Referee waved play on, ruling it a matter of interpretation, and the match ended 1-0 to Real Betis.
That call lit the fuse. Real Madrid's official television channel weighed in too, hammering the referee's error.
The Madrid channel argued the defender had his right foot on the penalty area line the moment the kick was taken, before he stepped inside, and that this directly affected the outcome of the play. It also flagged Hector Bellerin, who had one foot touching the line.
Blistering in its assessment of the refereeing, Real Madrid's television channel branded it "a contradiction from the referee" under the letter of the law, voicing its astonishment "that a referee does not know his own regulations", stating: "This is a technical error".
It continued: "Had this happened with Barcelona, the penalty would have been retaken, and had Espi's goal been for Barcelona, perhaps it would not have been disallowed".
Oversight or incompetence, the channel added, was the reason the penalty "was not awarded".
In its breakdown of the incident, the Madrid channel explained: "The foul (during the taking of the penalty) was not awarded, whether due to oversight or incompetence".
Marc Bartra did not step on the line, the refereeing team insisted. Real Madrid's channel countered that even if he never touched it, he charged forward and intervened directly in the play.
The channel rounded on VAR official Iglesias Villanueva for failing to send on-field referee Hernandez Hernandez to review the incident, given the final call rests with him, before delivering its blunt verdict on the whole affair: "The penalty should have been retaken".
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