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Real Madrid are playing catch-up in La Liga, and many fans and media outlets are not entirely convinced that the blame lies solely with the players and staff.
While points have perhaps been lost along the way due to a lack of a finishing touch, or a less-than-solid defensive outlook, there have been instances where the Santiago Bernabeu faithful feel they have been wronged by refereeing decisions along the way.
Now, even the most ardent of supporters aren't going to insist that every single decision be spot on—the officials' job is a difficult one, and still a human one for the most part—but when big calls seem to consistently go against a particular team, it can be hard to take.
But are there grounds for such complaints?
Are Real Madrid genuinely hard done-by to the extent that they can feel robbed of points and victories by referees in La Liga this term?
The Bernabeu fans believe so.
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They spent much of the weekend match, as reported by Marca, jeering and chanting at the Spanish Football Federation, suggesting "corruption" in the organisation, and calling for Victoriano Arminio, the president of the referees' committee, to step down.
It's a difficult question to answer though, for along with objectivity there must be subjectivity on the matter, and even then opinion cans sway over whether a particular in-game instance should have been awarded or not. But there have been plenty of match moments to look at specifically, and plenty of viewpoints to take into account.
So: have Real Madrid been denied closing the gap on their rivals Barcelona at the top thanks to refereeing decisions?
Recency bias
In any for-against argument, the natural response will be to look at what has happened most recently and draw immediate conclusions. For a half-season-long discussion as this one currently is that's clearly not feasible—yet there are parallels, and examples, to be seen.
The most recent game week in La Liga saw Real Madrid at home to 19th-placed Malaga, and Barcelona travel to second-placed Valencia. The outcomes saw Madrid claw back two points thanks to a 3-2 win and Barca's 1-1 draw, but were those two regained points justified from an officiating point of view?
Undeniably not.
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Real Madrid went in at half time 2-1 up, but Malaga had the ball in the net roughly one second after the referee's whistle went for the interval—Gil Manzano blew as the ball was looping through the air and into the net.
Initially there was confusion over the decision, as it appeared no foul took place and the whistle was simply to signify half-time, but Radio Marca reported (h/t Marca) that the ref did actually give a foul, for an extremely slight hand from Malaga's Paul Baysse on Real's defender Dani Carvajal.
Injustice, perhaps, but that's the subjective side of giving fouls—there is no clear, linear process over how much force need be exerted.
In any case, the referee certainly wasn't against Real Madrid in that moment, nor later on in the match: Malaga equalised in the second half before Cristiano Ronaldo scored the rebound off a saved penalty. For those who missed it, the spot kick was a stonewaller, with no hint of incorrect decision or favouring the attack—Luka Modric was fouled and the penalty was the correct call.
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So, three points to Real Madrid, in dubious if not downright nefarious circumstances.
It was rather more clear-cut in Barca's match, late on Sunday at Mestalla.
Lionel Messi's shot, fumbled by goalkeeper Neto, clearly bounced over the line and should have been awarded as a goal.
Somehow, out of every player on the pitch, thousands of fans in the stadium and many more watching on-screen, only the referee and his assistants failed to spot that the ball was clearly in.
Barca later fell behind and needed a late equaliser to salvage a point, and there's no way of telling how scoring first—in what was a tight game at the top of the table—might have made the match pan out differently.
For certain, though, Barcelona should have two legitimate goals to their name instead of one, and quite possibly two points more than the one they earned.
Two points dropped for Barca, two points clawed back in the title race for Real Madrid, and strong evidence against the initial question mark against officials.
But the suggestion isn't that Real Madrid (or Barcelona for that matter) have been favoured once or twice, it's that they have been repeatedly robbed throughout the campaign.
Cause for complaint
So with the campaign 13 league games old, just how often do Real Madrid think they've been denied? To fall behind in the title race at this reasonably early stage is unexpected, given the 16/17 season they had.
But regardless of how many points are won or lost due to refereeing decisions, not everything in the title race can be put down to officials getting their whistle-blowing right or wrong.
Real Madrid, the fans, Zinedine Zidane and the players have to accept their own performances have been below that of last season. Start getting that right, and perhaps the calls going for (or against) them might start to make more of a realistic impact.
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Still, it helps if not everything goes against the team.
Real Madrid chief correspondent for Spanish outlet AS, Tomas Roncero, claims Los Blancos have been denied a clear and accountable 10 points by erroneous referee calls this season.
Yes, a full 10—the difference between Barca and Real before the jornada 13 matches.
Before getting into the decisions themselves, it's important to have context. Roncero is the club writer for AS, and is unapologetically pro-Madrid. Indeed, partisan writing and impassioned points of view are to be expected far more than objectivity and covering every eventuality in his work; that's not a criticism nor a dismissal of his work, rather explaining precisely what he is there to do. He's the man responsible for a stinging attack on Gareth Bale for playing for Wales—in a Euro 2016 qualifier as the nation celebrated reaching the finals—rather than keeping himself fit to play for Los Blancos.
Real Madrid's fan base is enormous, and Roncero airs his views solely from the perspective of a Madrid-first approach.
His claim, then, that Madrid had been denied 10 points, as of mid-November.
This suggested a whopping 10 penalties had not been given to Real Madrid when they should have, resulting in a nine-point swing, as well as two goals which were scored and allowed against Madrid which had been netted from offside positions.
Before even considering whether or not the decisions should have been penalties, or whether they were at least contentious calls or outright, blatant spot-kicks, there's one obvious flaw with Roncero's argument: it supposes that a) Real Madrid netted every one of the would-be penalties, and b) that the opposing team wouldn't bounce back and retaliate against what they might feel was a harsh call on their team.
The first point is easiest to lean on in voiding any so-called proof of the referees being to blame for nine points dropped: Real Madrid's first penalty of the season in La Liga came against Malaga, and Ronaldo of course missed.
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He scored the rebound, but that needn't always be the case—the issue is that a penalty given doesn't automatically equal a goal and thus more points on the board.
Similarly, Roncero's arguments that red card decisions should have gone the way of opponents are based in subjectivity, not absolutes. The column speaks of "two clear red cards that Atletico avoided...Correa should have received his marching orders for booting the ball at Benzema’s head as he lay on the turf, and Savic should have been sent off for a studs-up challenge on Toni Kroos’ ankle."
Certainly the Correa incident could have gone either way. Another referee might have taken the view that Correa, on the run, took aim and got accurate to laser the ball at the prone Benzema. But it was a million miles away from definitive, and Savic's tackle—late, rushed, in an open midfield zone but not particularly high or two-footed—even less so.
Lastly, there's no mention at all of decisions which went Madrid's way, in the matches involved in the nine penalty shouts or otherwise.
If referees are to blame for Madrid failing to pick up more points, then the decisions they get wrong for Madrid have to be factored in as well.
A similar investigation by Marca's Jose Feliz Diaz at least did acknowledge that Real had benefitted as well as lost out from the officials getting things wrong.
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Sergio Ramos' opening day red card is queried as "subjectively tame," while the defender getting clattered in the Madrid derby, breaking his nose, is highlighted as one of the key instances which might have gone Real's way and made a difference to the points tally.
Whether or not one agrees that the decisions were all wrong and would all have altered Madrid's match results and points tally, it's at least clear on a particular point: there are plenty of instances where referees are questioned and criticised in La Liga, and perhaps that's one half of the real story.
Always against
So if the cries of foul play are against Madrid and come with frequency, isn't it a cut-and-dried case?
The answer is no, and for many reasons. Firstly this is, by its very nature, a one-sided question mark. Madrid might well have had 10 legitimate penalties turned down—but does that immediately mean Valencia haven't had 15 denied? Maybe Atletico Madrid should have had a red card or two—but is that proof that Betis or Sevilla should have had three to give the other side a deserved advantage?
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Whether or not the Madrid complaints are legitimate is one side of the story, but the other is whether or not every team miss out on advantageous moments due to officiating.
Of course, rivals being rivals, every action for (or against) one team will be used by supporters (and even by club staff at times) as "proof" that the federation, the referees or the entire league are against another side.
For Real Madrid that goes double, because their eternal rivals are Barcelona: also hugely supported and watched the world over, and also extremely successful. And, this season, also top of La Liga.
Rival comparisons are given as much importance as actual events; if Barcelona get a free-kick, so too should Real Madrid in their fans' eyes. If Real are handed a penalty, Barca supporters howl that it wouldn't be given at the Camp Nou.
It would have made very uncomfortable viewing last weekend for those shouting loudest about Real Madrid's treatment by referees.
Spanish football journalist Dermot Corrigan negates the idea that any over-the-top injustice has been done to the Bernabeu club this term.
"I've not noticed them being particularly hard done by at all, [it's the] same as usual—but when results [are] not going well, incidents [are] always highlighted.
"Plus, Madrid looking to use [Spanish football] federation chaos to push out the refs' chief."
As noted above in the Marca report, the chants aimed at doing exactly that continued in the last league match.
And, more and more often, perhaps that's where any accepted conclusions lie: that the individuals responsible aren't targeting Real Madrid (or Barca, or Villarreal, or Rayo Vallecano for that matter)...they're simply not at the required standard.
More than that, they're not being allowed to be at the required standard, because the league organisations are not helping them to be.
Still in La Liga, there is no goal line technology. There is no video assistant replay. Messi's "goal" against Valencia at the weekend would have saved embarrassment with the former, while Real have had two goals scored against them this term from offside positions.
One of those, Jorge Molina of Getafe, was clearly offside and should have been seen as such, while the other—Portu of Girona—was much more difficult to see in real time as he was moving away from the goal, just two yards out, but VAR still may have cleared it up quickly.
Portu scores a back-heeled goal from an offside position, just a few yards from goalAlex Caparros/Getty Images
Incredibly, La Liga have reportedly told Marca that, even in the wake of the Mestalla debacle, goal line tech is still not on the agenda for next term—though VAR will be trialled in Copa del Rey games this term.
Until every possible helping hand is available, until every chance to get major decisions right are presented to La Liga referees, they will continue to fall below the required level in decision-making.
And with Real Madrid one of the most covered, vociferous and supported clubs on the planet, every decision which doesn't go their way is magnified tenfold. But that alone isn't proof of a witch-hunt against the club, isn't conclusive evidence that it is referees and their assistants who are to blame for the defeats and draws this term.
There's still an eight-point gap to make up in the top flight, and it's Zidane and Co. who must take responsibility for that, not the officials of La Liga.
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