Real Madrid's bullying tactic works: Vinicius and Endrick escape blatant red cards

After a very ‘thin‘ victory over Alaves last night (3-2), Real Madrid lost Kylian Mbappe, who got injured and will miss the next three weeks, which means he will not be available for Sunday‘s big city derby against Atletico Madrid. So, a bit of ‘shuffling‘ will be required from Carlo Ancelotti, who will again change the personnel and maybe the formation as well. However, if it wasn‘t for Real‘s constant pressure on the referees, maybe the Italian tactician would also be without Endrick or Vinicius (or both) for the Sunday derby.

The referees in Spain are in the middle of the ‘crossfire‘ between Real Madrid and Barcelona. While the Catalans may have bribed the judges, which will be seen when the ‘Negreira‘ case is over, the other Spanish giant is making a constant pressure on the referees every week. The ‘subtle‘ tactics Real is using in recent times is to pick a referee which is about to handle Madrid‘s next game and then pull out his previous matches, find his errors during the game and put them all out on Real Madrid TV. And if that referee made mistakes against Real in the past, that‘s even better.

That puts the ‘men in black‘ in a very awkward position and it often results with a unique ‘auto-censorship‘, where they avoid certain situations, like to give Real players red or second yellow cards. And that‘s exactly what happened last night. First Endrick. The young Brazilian was advancing toward the penalty area to get into a better position for an incoming cross in the 81st minute. Suddenly, something frustrated him to the point that he completely lost focus on the game and violently struck an opposing player between his legs. The incident occurred far from the ball, so while the referee may not have seen the whole situation, someone from the VAR room should have alerted him and called for a video review. Instead, the referee acknowledged that the incident took place, issued a yellow card, and avoided delivering full justice, which is his responsibility.

Real celebrated too early but ultimately beat brave Alaves

Then it was time for Vinicius. He go the yellow card (his third of the season already) for complaining (just like two others) and then should have got the second one for two separate incidents. He first knocked over Mourino and then - presumably unintentionally - stepped on his thigh. He was not booked. Then he was substituted when the fourth referee announced that the additional time will be six minutes. While leaving the pitch, the Brazilian started to laugh at the board, and continued to complain why it wasn‘t five minutes. Again, no card was given. Real‘s bullying tactics works – both Brazilians will be in the team for the Madrid derby.

LA LIGA - MATCHDAY 7

Tuesday

Valencia - Osasuna 0-0

Sevilla - Valladolid 2-1 (1-0)

/Torres 45 og, Ejuke 85 - Perez K. 56/

Real Madrid - Alaves 3-2 (2-0)

/Vazquez 1, Mbappe 40, Rodrygo 48 - Benavidez 85, Garcia 87/

Wednesday

20:00: (1.80) Girona (3.50) Rayo Vallecano (4.70)

22:00: (1.25) Barcelona (6.00) Getafe (11.0)

Thursday

20:00: (3.35) Espanyol (3.45) Villareal (2.15)

20:00: (3.15) Las Palmas (3.35) Betis (2.45)

20:00: (4.20) Celta (3.60) Atl.Madrid (1.95)

***odds are subject to change***