Spain's referees' technical committee has settled its position on the most controversial refereeing incidents in the derby between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid. Kang-in Lee deserved to be sent off after his strong challenge on Federico Valverde, the committee ruled, while it upheld the validity of the red card Dean Huijsen received following VAR intervention.
According to the newspaper "AS", the committee believes referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias erred in handling the three most prominent incidents in the match. Video technology stepped in to correct two of them.
Ortiz Arias got the wrong man in the incident involving Cuti Romero and Jude Bellingham. He pinned the challenge on the Real Madrid player and booked him, only for the VAR room to intervene and identify Romero as the one who committed the foul.
Romero's challenge warranted a sending-off, the committee believes, yet Ortiz Arias settled for a yellow card even after video technology corrected the identity of the offending player.
The second incident was Kang-in Lee's challenge on Valverde. Here the committee believes the Atletico Madrid player committed a foul warranting a red card, having challenged his opponent strongly from behind. The referee took no action, and the VAR room never intervened to review it.
Failing to send off Kang-in Lee counts as one of the most prominent refereeing errors in the match, the committee says.
On the Huijsen sending-off, the committee endorsed the decision. He held Giuliano Simeone inside the penalty area and prevented him from reaching the ball, an incident in which Ortiz Arias awarded a penalty but initially issued only a yellow card.
Video technology called the referee over to review the situation. He changed his decision and produced the red card for Huijsen, a call the technical committee considers correct and clear.