Real Madrid remain 'suspicious' of this season's refereeing

Real Madrid collected three points from their trip to take on Celta Vigo at Balaidos, winning 3-1, yet Los Blancos returned to the Spanish capital concerned by the refereeing after Mario Melero Lopez's performance.

There wasn't a sense of indignation among the players, given that they still managed to earn the victory. However, there was a sense of disbelief at points during and after the match.

Melero Lopez is a name that brings up unhappy memories in Real Madrid circles as he was the VAR assistant who uttered the famous words of "todo ok, Jose Luis" - "all ok, Jose Luis", in English - in the first season in which VAR was used when discussing a possible penalty on Vinicius.

This weekend, he was the man in the middle and Real Madrid were upset about a freekick given against Luka Modric in the second half when the midfielder made a pass to Lucas Vazquez and was then punished for colliding with an opponent on the follow through, even being shown a yellow card.

In the refereeing report, Modric was said to have been "reckless", yet the player doesn't agree and the Real Madrid directors don't either.

That freekick almost saw Celta Vigo equalise, as Iago Aspas hit the post with his attempt when the scores were 2-1 at that point in the match.

This is why Real Madrid are suspicious of the refereeing and they're not happy that they could have dropped two points on Saturday for what they consider to be a clear officiating error.

There was also an incident in the first half when Fede Valverde was pushed as he raced down the sidelines, but Melero Lopez didn't give anything and neither did his assistant, who was just centimetres away. This was protested by Zinedine Zidane.

Real Madrid also didn't understand a handball given against Vinicius when he appeared to rob the ball legally, launching a counter attack.

These three decisions have stuck with Real Madrid, even as they return home with a victory.

Also concerning for Los Blancos is the fact that they haven't had a penalty in LaLiga Santander since October 24.

Controversy in the two previous matchdays

There is an important context to this suspicion, which is the fact that Real Madrid weren't happy with decisions made in the previous two LaLiga Santander matchdays.

Against Atletico Madrid two rounds ago, they felt they should have had a penalty for a Felipe handball. The referee that day was Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez and he even went to check the VAR monitor, but didn't give a spot kick.

Last week, they also claimed for a penalty for a foul in the box on Sergio Ramos against Elche.

That wasn't given and means they've now gone 22 matches without being awarded a penalty in league action. This is a cause for concern for Los Blancos as they approach the business end of the campaign.