Miguel Ángel Gil Marín exploded: “It’s unfortunate!” The CEO of Atlético de Madrid this Sunday denounced something very similar to the evasions of the league referees. Gil explained on the club’s website that under “pressure” this season, referees have systematically harmed Atlético in favor of Madrid after witnessing Correa’s ejection by referee Jesús Gil Manzano in the 64th minute of Saturday’s derby at the Bernabeu. Atlético drew 1-1 despite playing with one too little.
“It’s not worth insisting any more,” said the leader. “I already said it a week ago and I confirm it word for word. It was more like that yesterday. It’s sad! We always suffer from this kind of performance against this team [el Real Madrid] due to the pressure exerted on the conciliation group. It is unacceptable that a referee finds it so difficult to send off one of his players when the game is clear and without room for interpretation, as in the last game against the same team, and that yesterday it was so easy to unfair was sending Ángel Correa off”.
The trigger for the complaint against Miguel Ángel Gil was Correa’s surprising ejection for physical contact with Rüdiger, which Gil Manzano interpreted as physical injury. The writing of the rojiblanco leader is exceptional due to its conditions and form. It comes after one of the biggest scandals to rock Spanish arbitration in its history. The outbreak of the Enríquez-Negreira case, with documents showing that Barcelona paid €7m to the vice-president of the refereeing college for two decades, has shrouded Spanish football in darkness. Atlético, along with all clubs in the league except Barcelona and Madrid, have demanded that the facts be investigated to the end given the silence from Madrid and the federation chaired by Luis Rubiales.
“After the last derby,” continued Miguel Ángel Gil, “I decided to express my opinion publicly and for that alone I received a lot of criticism and disqualifications from different ranks (…). I know that many people are against us denouncing an unfair system, but we cannot normalize what is abnormal. I refuse to get used to these situations, although unfortunately they have become a habit for many years.
“The integrity of the competition cannot be questioned,” he concludes, referring to the Enríquez-Negreira case. “If the fans question it, we’re all redundant. In the last few weeks we have had access to very relevant information that deserves serious investigation. We have no choice but to get to the bottom of this matter. This is what all clubs in the league have asked for except for two: the club that needs to be investigated and another.
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