Earlier this week, Real Madrid were informed of the ban length for midfielder Fede Valverde, who was sent off during Sunday’s Madrid derby victory over Atletico Madrid. The Uruguay international was shown red for a challenge on Alex Baena, and despite an appeal being launched by Bernabeu officials, it was rejected by the Spanish Football Federation’s Competition Committee.
Fortunately for Real Madrid, Valverde received the lowest possible sanction for the indiscretion: a one-match suspension. It means that he will miss the visit to Mallorca after the international break, but he will return the following weekend for the home match against Girona.
The decision of the Competition Committee has caused controversy, and the supposed double standards have now been called out by Atleti, who took the social media to highlight a previous decision that the committee made that led to a different outcome.
Atleti started their thread on X with a sarcastic message aimed at the Competition Committee: “Congratulations, you are the best at this. Goal accomplished: 1 game for Valverde”. They followed it up by comparing the report of Valverde’s dismissal to that of Athletic Club midfielder Oihan Sancet, who was sent off against Barcelona in November for a similar tackle.
“Football fans can go on vacation with peace of mind, knowing that the colour of the jersey and the media noise do not influence the decisions of sports justice.
“Same committee. Same wording of the minutes. Different criteria.”
Earlier in the week, Atleti had published another thread in which their immense anger was portrayed. They were unhappy with a number of decisions that did not go their way at the Bernabeu on Sunday, among them being the turning down of a penalty claim after Marcos Llorente clashed with Dani Carvajal in the opening stages of the Madrid derby.
It remains to be seen whether Atleti’s social media posts go further, but it’s clear they are not happy with how things are going at the moment.
