Frustration among Real Madrid players over the way referees deal with opposition challenges has intensified after the clash with Valencia at Mestalla revived a debate that has been rumbling inside the club for weeks.
According to AS, the frustration repeatedly voiced by Real Madrid TV is now evident in the dressing room. Players feel referees are too lenient with challenges they believe warrant a yellow card, and the Valencia match only added to their grievances.
Madrid were awarded 26 fouls at Mestalla, roughly one every three and a half minutes. It was the highest tally for any team in a La Liga match this season and matched the number of fouls Madrid suffered against Getafe in December 2024. Getafe then committed 27 against them in October 2025.
The Valencia match took Madrid’s total to a league-high 171 fouls suffered in 12 games, ahead of Racing Santander (161) and Sevilla (155). Atlético Madrid had been fouled 113 times and Barcelona 108 before the two sides met in the same round.
Jude Bellingham leads the individual standings with 31 fouls suffered, five more than Pablo Ibáñez. Vinícius Júnior and Kylian Mbappé are joint fifth with 23 each, while Arda Güler is tenth with 21.
Mbappé was fouled six times at Mestalla, while Güler and Marc Cucurella were fouled four times each. AS highlighted several challenges by Pablo Maffeo on Cucurella as incidents that frustrated Madrid’s players.
“It was a tough match in a difficult atmosphere against a team that plays aggressively. The referee let them play that way, which made things harder for us,” Bernardo Silva said after the game.
“Fede’s goal helped us take control of the match,” he added. “I felt we were in control throughout. We stayed organised and dealt well with their counterattacks.”
José Mourinho offered a different assessment of referee Hernández Maeso at his post-match press conference. “From where I was sitting on the bench, I thought the referee did a great job,” he said.
