Tomas Roncero, editor-in-chief of Real Madrid-linked Spanish newspaper AS, has criticised the refereeing during Real Madrid’s 3-0 victory over Racing Santander at El Sardinero in La Liga.
Roncero believes referee Jose Luis Munuera Montero made mistakes in dealing with more than one controversial incident, although he admitted that the penalty awarded to Kylian Mbappe was not justified.
The journalist highlighted two decisions in particular: the penalty given to Mbappe about 10 minutes into the match and a challenge involving Real Madrid player Diomande inside the penalty area, which he felt should also have resulted in a spot-kick.
“ The referee denied Diomande a very clear penalty, while Mbappe’s, for me, was not a penalty,” Roncero said.
He acknowledged there had been contact between the Racing defender and the France forward, but argued it did not warrant a foul.
“It is true that he put his arm on him, but that does not mean nothing happened. Even so, I do not think the contact was enough to award a penalty,” he added.
Roncero’s strongest criticism was directed at the decision not to intervene over the incident involving Diomande. He questioned why the video assistant referee did not ask Munuera Montero to review it.
“I do not understand why the VAR room did not ask the referee to review the challenge on Diomande, because in my view that blow deserved a yellow card,” Roncero said.
“If it deserved a booking, that means it was a foul and the referee should have been alerted to it.”
He described the handling of the two incidents as inconsistent, pointing out that VAR did not intervene over the challenge on Diomande but did call the referee to review Mbappe’s penalty.
Roncero also rejected the idea that his assessment was influenced by the identity of the teams or players involved. He said he would have taken the same view if Lamine Yamal had suffered a similar challenge that went unpunished.
Despite his criticism of the officials, Roncero defended Real Madrid’s display and argued that the refereeing controversy had overshadowed the team’s superiority.
He said the result would not have changed even if Mbappe’s penalty had not been awarded. Real Madrid, he added, were clearly the better side, won 3-0 and had enough chances to score more, while goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was only required to make one save.
Roncero concluded by criticising those who reduce Real Madrid’s victory to refereeing decisions.
“Anyone who thinks Real Madrid only talks about refereeing either does not understand football or is deliberately ignoring what really happened on the pitch,” he said.
Fixtures listed alongside the report include AEK Athens in the Champions League on 04 November 2026, and Real Madrid v Malaga in La Liga on 07 November 2026. Racing Santander was also listed.
