In the match of round 22 of La Liga, Espanyol surprisingly defeated Real Madrid 1-0. This result caused Atletico Madrid to shorten the gap to only 1 point for the top spot.
In this match, Espanyol player Carlos Romero became the center of controversy. He committed a rough foul on Kylian Mbappe, but was lucky not to be sent off by the referee. In the end, it was Romero who scored the only goal that led to Real Madrid's defeat.
After the match, Romero apologized to Mbappe. He was quoted by AS: "I know that Kylian cannot be stopped in any way, but I had to stop him in any way I could. It was a bit ugly and I also apologized to him."
Meanwhile, Espanyol coach Manolo Gonzalez defended his player. He said: “It was a rough situation, but it should have been a yellow card. He wanted to stop a counter-attack from Mbappe, not to kill him. Romero is not an aggressive player and there is nothing bad about his style of play.”
Real Madrid were of course unhappy with the referee. Coach Ancelotti said: “The decision of the referee and VAR is inexplicable. The most important thing is to protect the player and it was a clear foul, a very ugly and dangerous tackle.
Luckily nothing happened, but there was a risk of injury. VAR is also responsible for this. For us, it is difficult to understand why he was not shown a red card.”
Referee Muniz Ruiz explained that he gave the yellow card because "Romero accidentally knocked down his opponent while fighting for the ball". Notably, referee Ruiz did not consult VAR for the situation in which Mbappe was fouled.
