Real Madrid TV's Fury After Derby Defeat to Atletico
Real Madrid’s derby defeat to Atletico has spilled far beyond the white lines. The 2-1 loss has lit a fire at the club’s official television channel, which has turned a routine post-match debrief into a full-frontal assault on Spanish refereeing.
The match itself hinged on a single, brutal twist. With the game in the balance, Dean Huijsen brought down Giuliano Simeone in the box, conceding a penalty and seeing red. One rash challenge, one decisive moment. Atletico took full advantage, and the derby swung their way.
But if you tuned into Real Madrid TV after the final whistle, Huijsen’s dismissal was almost a footnote.
Fury at First-Half Flashpoints
The real anger goes back to the first half. On the club’s channel, pundits and presenters fixated on two incidents they believe changed everything long before Huijsen’s intervention: challenges from Cristian Romero and Lee Kang-in that, in their view, should have resulted in dismissals.
From their perspective, Atletico should have been reduced to nine men. Instead, they finished with all eleven and the points.
Real Madrid TV framed those moments not as isolated errors but as part of a broader pattern. The language was incendiary, the tone unforgiving. The broadcast openly questioned whether the competition is being officiated on a level playing field for Madrid this season.
“We don’t know what would have happened if Atletico had been reduced to nine players. I’m sure many Madrid fans are eager to get up and walk away from this competition,” the channel said, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo. “It makes you want to get up and walk away. Now they’ve tightened the screws a little more. Before, they tried to cover it up; now they don’t.”
The message was clear: this wasn’t framed as a bad night for the referee. It was painted as something far more deliberate.
Personal Attack on the Referee
Once the first-half flashpoints had been dissected, the broadcast turned its sights on the man in the middle, Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias.
The channel dragged up a recent episode, claiming the referee had been “hanging out with Barcelona players a few weeks ago,” and then linking that to his performance in the derby. The implication was obvious, and it was vicious.
“It’s all sickening. They don’t care if the sh*t spills over into [Javier] Tebas’s La Liga. What’s happened this season has already pushed everyone over the edge,” the network continued.
This was not measured criticism. It was a direct attack on credibility, wrapped in the suggestion that the league’s image is a secondary concern to what Madrid perceive as a campaign against them.
Claims of Systemic Bias
From there, the rhetoric escalated again. The channel argued that the pattern of decisions against Madrid has gone beyond coincidence and now points to a structural problem inside Spanish football.
“All that’s missing is a directive allowing Madrid’s rivals to take the field armed with revolvers,” the broadcast claimed, in one of its most explosive lines.
They highlighted a specific incident involving Lee Kang-in and Fede Valverde. When Valverde protested after a heavy tackle, the referee’s reaction was described on air as “cocky” and “thuggish,” another example, in their eyes, of how Madrid players are treated differently.
“There’s a different standard when it comes to Madrid. They don’t let them compete. But these are the plans of La Liga and the RFEF,” the channel insisted.
No nuance. No softening. The accusations went straight to the heart of the institutions that run the domestic game.
Penalty Decision Under the Microscope
The penalty and red card for Huijsen, which effectively killed Madrid’s hopes on the night, were then framed as the final act in a familiar script.
“Given how the refereeing has gone, I doubt they would have sent off an Atletico player in the other penalty area, the way they did with Huijsen. The football debate doesn’t make sense,” the network concluded.
In other words: the result, in their view, cannot be separated from the officiating. Not just in this match, but across the season.
A Storm That Won’t Blow Over
The fallout from this broadcast will not stay confined to Madrid’s media bubble. In a country where referees already operate under intense scrutiny, Real Madrid TV has poured petrol on a fire that was already burning.
The channel’s words will echo through press conferences, federation corridors, and referee briefings in the coming days. Questions about pressure on officials, institutional trust, and the limits of club-owned media are guaranteed to follow.
On the pitch, though, the reality for Carlo Ancelotti’s side is more straightforward and far less forgiving. They have lost a derby, lost ground, and lost a defender. Huijsen will be suspended, and a backline already under stress must be rebuilt again.
The anger on the airwaves may rage for days. The real test is whether Madrid can keep that fury out of the dressing room and turn it into something more useful than another week of noise.
