The season is barely a month old and Real Madrid already feel they are playing against more than just eleven men. The complaints started as murmurs in the opening fixtures of 2026-27. The Madrid derby turned them into a full-blown storm.
At the heart of it all: referee Ortiz Arias.
The derby at the Metropolitano became a catalogue of grievances for Real Madrid. Dean Huijsen’s red card lit the fuse, a decision that left the visitors furious and convinced the contest had been tilted. On the other side, two Atletico Madrid players, Cuti Romero and Kang-In Lee, stayed on the pitch despite challenges that, in Madrid’s eyes, merited red as well.
Then came the handball. Marc Pubill inside the Atletico box, arms questioned, penalty not given. One more decision, one more flashpoint, one more clip replayed endlessly on Spanish television.
The final whistle did not calm anything. It only gave Jose Mourinho a microphone.
The Real Madrid coach went hard at the federation and the match officials, his criticism described as very harsh. It was not the calculated, offhand nudge he sometimes uses to shape a narrative. This was open confrontation, a direct shot at the structures that govern Spanish football.
All this unfolded in the build-up to a date already circled on the calendar: the annual coaches’ meeting, scheduled for Tuesday.
A forum that usually stays low profile suddenly found itself in the spotlight. Every year, coaches from the top two divisions gather to air their concerns, talk finances, and, inevitably, talk referees. It is one of the few institutional spaces where frustration can be voiced face to face, rather than through press conferences and touchline theatrics.
This time, though, the most controversial voice of the moment will not be in the room.
As reported by Diario AS, Mourinho has already decided he will not attend and has explained his reasons. The coach who has just ignited the latest refereeing debate will be absent from the one place designed to channel that debate.
That absence matters. These meetings are usually well attended, and the big three rarely miss out. Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Atletico Madrid: their presence gives the gathering weight. Diego Simeone has been a near-constant fixture over the years, but even his attendance is now in doubt due to personal reasons. Only Hansi Flick, representing Barcelona, is confirmed among the traditional giants.
So the game’s biggest storm may be discussed without its loudest protagonists. The tension between Real Madrid and the refereeing establishment will hang over the meeting, even if those most directly involved are not in their seats.
Spanish football has been here before, but the stakes feel sharper this time. The conflict is not whispered in corridors; it is public, raw, and playing out in front of cameras. Every decision involving Real Madrid is now viewed through a lens of suspicion by one side or the other.
The institutions cannot ignore that.
CTA, RFEF and La Liga face a clear challenge: restore trust before this simmering conflict boils over into something that damages the competition itself. The integrity of one of Europe’s elite leagues is not a slogan; it is the product of week-to-week credibility.
Right now, that credibility is being questioned from the very top of the most powerful club in the country. The next move belongs to the authorities.
