Valdano has watched this storyline swallow Spanish football for years, and the morning after a Madrid rout he had heard enough.
“We have seen Madrid players at an extraordinary level and we are talking about the referees,” the 71-year-old Argentine told Movistar Plus+. “It tires me a lot, because football has been left in second place.”
“I am tired of all this, extremely tired. We see wonderful goals, we see players at an extraordinary level, and we end up talking about the referees, we end up talking about the referees.”
Kylian Mbappé scored twice, Arda Güler and Yan Diomande added one each, and only Manu Bueno’s late consolation kept Sevilla from a shutout at the Bernabéu on Sunday. None of that led the post-match conversation.
Read also: Ferrari keeps Alba Larsen for 2027 as F1 Academy’s two-season ceiling bends for the first time
Güler, an elbow, and a VAR that stayed quiet
The trigger was a first-half incident between Güler and Sevilla’s Peque. Sevilla head coach Luis García Plaza was convinced it was violent conduct, and he was not quiet about it afterwards.
“Why didn’t VAR call him over?” García Plaza asked, according to BeIN Sports. “Maybe so they wouldn’t be nine points behind heading into El Clásico.”
Spain’s referees’ committee later said there was no conclusive evidence Güler had elbowed his opponent and ruled the incident did not reach the threshold of a sending-off. Valdano saw the complaint less generously, suggesting the Sevilla bench had reached for the red card that never came to explain away a lopsided afternoon.
Chants against Tebas and the Negreira echo
The noise did not start in the technical area. From the opening whistle, sections of the Bernabéu directed chants at LaLiga president Javier Tebas and revived references to the Negreira case, the long-running inquiry into payments by Barcelona to a company linked to a former refereeing official.
Read also: Max Verstappen reveals ambitious 2027 racing plans away from Formula 1: ‘I’m trying to make it work’
That is the atmosphere Valdano was describing. A home win built on four well-worked goals, drowned out by a soundtrack of grievances against officials, the league office and a rival club, all before kick-off.
A charged week before El Clásico
The timing sharpens everything. Real Madrid travel to Camp Nou on Sunday 25 October, and the first El Clásico of the LaLiga season will be played without Vinícius Júnior, whose appeal against a four-match ban was rejected by the Spanish federation after a red card at Villarreal for pulling Nathan Saliba’s hair.
Read also: Granon, Loze and a Pyrenean ambush: The climbs shaping the 2027 Tour de France
