Real Madrid condemn Javier Tebas over neutrality row sparked by Mourinho referee protest

Madrid escalate dispute with La Liga president

Real Madrid have issued a fierce statement condemning La Liga president Javier Tebas for what the club described as an "intolerable" campaign of discrediting against the club, after Tebas waded into a row sparked by Jose Mourinho’s post-match protest over officiating in Sunday’s 2-1 derby defeat to Atletico Madrid.

Mourinho arrived at his post-match press conference with a sheet of A4 paper showing screen grabs of two Atletico challenges he felt should have resulted in red cards for the opposition. "We can save ourselves the bother of the press conference because the story is right here," he said, waving the paper at assembled journalists before launching a tirade about Spanish match officials having it in for Real Madrid.

The comments reignited Mourinho’s long-running feud with referees, a pattern the Football Daily newsletter notes has stretched back more than two decades to the Anders Frisk incident and a record of red cards, touchline bans and mournful post-match monologues.

The story gained further traction on Tuesday when Tebas responded on social media to an article in Spanish outlet El Debate by Tomás González-Martín. The piece argued referees were damaging the league by failing to pander to Madrid, a club González-Martín claimed the competition has no value without.

Tebas wrote: "Here they go again, the mouthpieces and the regime’s television, building the same old narrative: the permanent conspiracy. But this article goes further: it claims that referees harm ‘the business that feeds them’. What exactly is it asking for? Refereeing based on revenue, viewership or the badge? What a way to understand equality in the competition."

Real Madrid said the intervention was inappropriate. "Our club considers it intolerable that the president of La Liga uses his institutional position to continue discrediting and attacking Real Madrid," the club said in an official statement. "Given this inappropriate and persistent behaviour, we believe that the professional football competition in Spain urgently needs a leader capable of managing it and realising its full potential with the fundamental duty of neutrality."

The Football Daily briefing noted Tebas was right to defend officials against accusations of institutional bias, but argued he aimed his guns at the wrong target by attacking an opinion piece rather than Mourinho’s comments, leaving himself open to accusations of partiality.