Real Madrid face major sanction as 'majority of Spanish football' pushes for punishment during official meeting

Real Madrid could be sanctioned by Spanish football authorities after the majority of La Liga called for the defending champions to be punished in a row over officiating in Spain.

It comes after Madrid issued a formal complaint to the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in the wake of Saturday's controversial La Liga defeat to Espanyol.

The defending champions were beaten 1-0 at the weekend, with Carlos Romero controversially scoring the winner for Espanyol after avoiding a red card for a challenge on Kylian Mbappe earlier in the game.

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti slammed the officials after the defeat, saying: "The decision the referee and the VAR took is inexplicable. Everyone saw it.

"The most important thing is to protect the player. It's a clear foul, a very ugly challenge. Fortunately nothing happened in terms of an injury, but the VAR is there for that. It's inexplicable to us that he didn't show a red card."

Real Madrid lodged a formal complaint to the RFEF against referee Muniz Ruiz and VAR referee Iglesias Villanueva following the defeat.

In a four-page letter, Madrid president Florentino Perez demanded the audio recording of the match and called for complete reform of the refereeing system in Spain.

Perez also called for the Spanish FA to bring in referees from the Premier League to improve the standard of officiating in La Liga as part of his proposed overhaul.

Real Madrid now face the possibility of being sanctioned following an emergency meeting attended by directors of first and second division clubs, as well as the the president of La Liga, Javier Tebas, and the president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), Medina Cantalejo.

Spanish outlet Relevo report that the majority of La Liga clubs are 'united' against Real Madrid, who did not attend Thursday's meeting, and have called for the European champions to be punished for putting 'pressure' on referees.

"Real Madrid is not only showing disrespect to the other clubs and the referees, but it is also showing that it does not want to be just another one," said one source present at the meeting is reported to have said.

Real Madrid were beaten 1-0 by Espanyol on Saturday (Image: Getty)

"This is historic. Being able to tell the referees what we think and being able to continue working like this, in harmony, is wonderful," said a director of an unnamed La Liga club about the meeting.

"Before, if you criticised the referees, you were scared that they would screw you over at the weekend in the match. Now we are all sitting at the same table and it is great to be able to work like this," a second division player added.

Real Madrid's bitter rivals Barcelona are said to have been one of the most 'understanding' clubs with the officials.

"We may have done things wrong in the past, but now we want to be closer to all of you," one of its directors is reported to have said.

The possibility of requesting VAR audio was also discussed at the meeting, with Tebas said to be among those in favour of the move.

Atletico fire dig at Real Madrid ahead of derby

Madrid are now just one point clear of Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga heading into Saturday's Madrid derby at the Bernabeu.

Ahead of the game, Atletico have mocked their rivals in a social media post in response to Real's alleged attempts to put pressure on officials.

Atletico's official X account posted an image resembling an Ikea assembly instruction guide headlined 'basic instructions for the derby'.

It included: "Using your official TV channel once again to press referees."