Carlo Ancelotti said he was hopeful of Jude Bellingham avoiding a ban for abusing referees as he took another swipe at the standard of officiating in LaLiga.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday night’s crucial Champions League play-off with Manchester City, Ancelotti’s pre-match press conference was dominated by questions surrounding Bellingham and Real’s ongoing feud with the Spanish authorities about the quality of refereeing in its top flight.
Bellingham, who had scored the late winner in the first leg of Real’s play-off win at the Etihad last week, was shown a straight red card in the first half of their 1-1 draw with Osasuna on Saturday, the latest moment of controversy the club feel they have come up against in recent weeks.
At the start of February, they wrote a formal letter to the Spanish FA after a 1-0 defeat by Espanyol, with the winner scored by Carlos Romero – who Real felt should have already been sent off for a late challenge on Kylian Mbappe.
The club was also left incensed by a VAR-awarded penalty given to arch-rivals Atletico Madrid which saw the Madrid derby end in a 1-1 draw a week later.
“I already gave my opinion on what happened and is still happening,” Ancelotti explained about his latest thoughts on the state of refereeing in Spain. “What’s happening is quite surprising and I have nothing else to say.
“We’re obviously not happy with it, with what happened against Osasuna, what happened against Atletico. It’s been three games where we have been harmed by some decisions that we still don’t understand. I don’t understand.”
Istvan Kovacs, who refereed last season’s Europa League final between Bayer Leverkusen and Atalanta, will officiate Wednesday’s match at the Bernabeu, with Real leading 3-2 from the first leg in Manchester.
Bellingham scored a stoppage-time winner for Real Madrid at Manchester City
When Ancelotti was asked about the difference he was expecting from a European referee, he praised the standard of refereeing around Europe and aimed another dig at Real’s domestic officials, saying: “The statistics speak for themselves. There are fewer VAR interventions, only when it’s necessary.”
On Bellingham’s dismissal, Ancelotti was asked whether he had hope of the midfielder avoiding the maximum punishment of a 12-match ban for referee abuse and replied: “Yes, obviously I do. We hope he will not be punished.”
Pep Guardiola has suggested City only have a “one-per-cent chance” of going through, now needing to win either by two clear goals – or on penalties if they win by one – in the Spanish capital, where Real have not lost since a shock group-phase defeat by Milan.
Ancelotti questioned Guardiola’s gamesmanship when the comments were put to him, and jokingly suggested he would bring them up with his opposite number ahead of the latest game between the two teams, the eighth in four seasons.
He said: “I’ll ask him tomorrow, before the game – do you really think you have just a one per cent chance? Of course, it is more than that – and we don’t think it is 99 per cent of the possibility to go through.
“We have a small advantage which we have to take advantage of. We’ll try to play the same game we did in the first leg, and things worked out pretty well there.”
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Analysis: Why are Real Madrid engulfed in a refereeing dispute?
Sky Sports News’ Ben Ransom in Madrid:
It’s the story which is swirling around Real Madrid. This relationship they have with referees, LaLiga and the authorities in Spain. It’s something which was brought into sharp focus for our media once Jude Bellingham was sent off at the weekend for foul and abusive language towards a match official. That carries with it a punishment of up to 12 matches.
He has come out since and said there was a misunderstanding, there’s a feeling within Real Madrid he can explain away what was said and that it wasn’t directed at the referee.
But it goes back to last month and a game between Real Madrid and Espanyol. Real lost that 1-0, the goalscorer Carlos Romero scored late on, but Real felt he should’ve been sent off earlier on because of a bad tackle on Kylian Mbappe.
They were upset with the officials’ decision both on the pitch and VAR as well.
They followed that up by writing a letter to the Spanish authorities, calling into question the integrity of the referees in LaLiga.
Paul Merson is left screaming after Manchester City let a 2-1 lead slip against Real Madrid in the Champions League, with Jude Bellingham scoring the winner.
Since then, the head of LaLiga, Javier Tebas has hit back at Real Madrid, a subsequent match which Real drew 1-1 with Atletico Madrid brought a penalty for Atleti which got them back into the tie.
Ancelotti referenced that today as well in terms of VAR intervention, and said there were many decisions they simply don’t understand.
It was really interesting, the final question of the press conference asked whether Ancelotti felt the letter to the authorities was having a negative effect on decisions. They’ve been knocked off the top of LaLiga, but Ancelotti said he didn’t want to talk about it and left at that point.
So much of the focus has been on that particular relationship, and from their point of view perhaps they’re happy the glare of the media spotlight will be Europe-wide with a European referee, and Ancelotti didn’t hold back in suggesting that was a better standard.
