Spain's refereeing technical committee has admitted the penalty handed to Kylian Mbappe against Racing Santander should never have been given. The incident came in the eleventh round of the Spanish league.
Spanish newspaper "AS" reported that the committee acknowledged a serious refereeing error on Wednesday in a match Real Madrid won 3-0. The contact between Mbappe and defender Mateo Prati, they confirmed, did not warrant a penalty.
The referee pointed to the spot after Mbappe hit the deck inside the box. The French forward had tried to burst past Prati, who threw an arm across him as he set off with the ball.
Refereeing committee: there is no link between the contact and the fall
Speaking on the programme "Tiempo de Revisar", the committee explained that Prati put his arm in front of Mbappe without exerting any force on him. In their view, nothing about the incident warranted a penalty.
The committee said in its analysis of the situation: "Mbappe controls the ball inside the penalty area and tries to set off quickly, and Prati puts his arm in front of the forward without exerting any force on him."
It added: "There is a clear absence of a causal link between the contact and the fall, there is no penalty. A clear and serious error by the referee, and the video assistant referee technology should have intervened."
Racing Santander were furious. Their players protested the decision during the match itself, and the committee's verdict has now confirmed they were right to do so.