Fran Soto, the head of Spain's technical committee of referees, sent a clear message to club managers. He urged them to show respect and empathy towards officials, amid the ongoing controversy that followed the capital derby between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid.
Held this Tuesday in the town of Las Rozas, the managers' committee meeting drew considerable attention, particularly given the fallout from the controversial scenes in the recent derby.
Soto attended in his capacity as head of the technical committee, where he stressed the importance of respecting the referee's character. He called on managers to show "empathy in their role as those responsible for their teams", aiming to continue efforts to humanise the image of the referee and to emphasise that he is part of the football ecosystem.
Mourinho absent from the meeting
Several managers from Spanish first division clubs attended, among them Hansi Flick, who left quickly to catch his team's evening training session. Diego Simeone and Edin Terzic were also present.
Representatives from second division clubs turned up too, alongside managers not currently attached to any team, such as Eder Sarabia and Marcelino Garcia Toral.
Several prominent names stayed away, though. Foremost among them was Manuel Pellegrini, plus Jose Bordalas, while Jose Mourinho was the most notable absentee of all, according to "Marca".
Despite his absence, Mourinho's comments after the Madrid derby still hung over the debate, after he took aim directly at referee Ortiz Arias.
An indirect reply to Mourinho
Amid the talk about the relationship between managers and referees, representatives of the refereeing body stressed the nature of the pressures they face.
The message came in the wake of the controversy sparked by Mourinho's comments after the derby, at a time when La Liga officials called for all matches and referees to be treated with the same degree of importance.
Victor Martin Ortega, head of the La Liga office, put it plainly: "the ten matches in every round, and the ten referees who officiate them, carry the same importance".
Read that as an indirect reminder of Mourinho's comments, in which he criticised Ortiz Arias's lack of international experience.
Mourinho had launched a fierce attack on the referees' committee after the derby. The Portuguese manager mocked it, saying: "I want to offer my congratulations to the referees' committee that selects the referees. First of all, it is strange that news leaked weeks earlier indicating that this referee had been chosen to officiate this match, as referees are usually selected in the same week the match is held."
He added: "Then comes the choice of this combination, a video assistant referee who has a strange history with Real Madrid time and time again, alongside a weak referee with little experience, who has only officiated small matches. The poor referees' committee, it made a mistake, what poor souls they are."
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The referees' committee backs down from complaint against the manager
According to "Mundo Deportivo", the Spanish football referees' association, working with the legal department of the technical committee, had been studying whether to lodge a complaint with the disciplinary committee over Mourinho's comments after the derby. They considered referring it to the department affiliated with the Spanish Football Federation to open a file that could have ended with a punishment for Real Madrid's Portuguese manager.
Deliberations ran throughout Monday. In the end, the newspaper reported, the referees' association decided to rule out submitting the complaint.
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