Real Madrid have not held back in talking about the referee following their failure to beat Girona on Sunday. Carlo Ancelotti, Marco Asensio and even the Real Madrid website blamed the referee for their failure to win the match and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has joined the growing avalanche of dissent coming out of the Santiago Bernabeu.
Ancelotti told the press that the Girona penalty, after Asensio hit the ball with his arm, had been invented, while Asensio himself also said that it should not have been given. Both run the risk of sanctions for their comments too.
As Relevo report, Courtois also believed the referee was mistaken.
“In the referees’ talk they told us that after a rebound of from your own body, that was not a handball. I don’t think this would be called in the Champions League. They thought it was a handball and that’s it. It’s very rare, sometimes it’s a handball, sometimes not. We don’t know when it is.”
As was the case with Ancelotti and Asensio, Courtois’ assessment is incorrect according to the rulebook. Although he refers to the rebound rule as a reason for a penalty not to be given, it does not apply if the arm is in an unnatural position.