Madrid needed referee help to beat the 19th-place team in Spain's third tier
Real Madrid beat Talavera 3-2 in the Copa del Rey Round of 32, and the only reason they advanced is because the referee gifted them a penalty that didn't exist. Talavera's Marcos Moreno allegedly handled the ball in the box. He didn't. His arm was down, the ball came off a teammate, and even Real Madrid's players didn't appeal because they knew it wasn't a penalty. The referee saw it differently, Madrid converted, and they scraped past a team sitting 19th in the third division.
This is the same Real Madrid whose president Florentino Pérez has spent months ranting about the Negreira scandal and Barcelona's supposed referee corruption. He's made speeches, filed complaints, and positioned Madrid as the victims of Spanish football's corrupt officiating structure. Then his team gets a phantom penalty against semi-professional opposition and suddenly everyone's quiet. The hypocrisy is staggering.
Spanish media universally called it a disgrace
The reaction from Spanish journalists was immediate and damning. Antonio Romero on Cadena SER said: "I find it shameful." Former referee Iturralde González added: "It's not a penalty, his arm is down." Poli Rincón on Cadena COPE called it "a shameful penalty." Tomás Guasch went further: "It's unworthy. Mbappé should have shot wide."
That last comment is telling. Even Madrid-friendly commentators couldn't defend it. When you're suggesting the player should've deliberately missed the penalty out of sporting integrity, you know the decision was indefensible. Talavera's goalkeeper Jaime Gonzalez confirmed what everyone saw: "There was no penalty. His teammate shot at him, then the ball goes to his arm. It's controversial. Plus, if you watch, Real Madrid's players didn't protest, they didn't even realize."
That's the key detail. Madrid's own players didn't appeal. They saw the play and kept running. The referee decided to intervene anyway, manufacturing a penalty that changed the game. Against a third-tier side that Madrid should beat without referee assistance.
Lunin should've conceded a penalty but didn't
The refereeing incompetence went both ways, but only one team benefited. Andriy Lunin came flying out of his goal and clattered into a Talavera attacker in a challenge that could've easily been called a penalty. It wasn't. So Madrid got a penalty they didn't deserve and avoided one they probably did. That's not bad luck for Talavera, that's systematic failure.
Cup competitions always have controversial refereeing decisions. The difference is when it happens to Real Madrid against third-tier opposition after months of their president lecturing everyone about referee corruption, the irony becomes impossible to ignore.
Xabi Alonso's post-match spin was predictable
Alonso tried to normalize the performance: "These are things that happen in the Cup. To us and other teams. Leading 1-3, which was important, we conceded a goal and they put pressure on us. Talavera rallied. We controlled the first half well, but not scoring to make it 0-3 left the match open." That's coach-speak for "we should've killed this game and didn't."
He continued: "The objective was to advance. We did it and that's why I'm satisfied and happy. We lacked something we've often talked about—continuity and greater consistency in our performances during matches. Finishing games off, because anything can happen; being more mature." Maturity? Madrid needed a phantom penalty to beat the 19th-place team in the third division. That's not a maturity issue, that's an embarrassment.
The Talavera stat that destroys Madrid's credibility
Here's the killer detail: Talavera scored two goals against Real Madrid's first team but zero against Real Madrid Castilla, who play in the same division. Let that sink in. Madrid's reserve team shut out Talavera. The actual Real Madrid conceded twice and needed dodgy refereeing to advance. That's not just poor form, that's structural failure at the highest level.
When your B team performs better against the same opposition than your star-studded first XI featuring Mbappé, Vinicius, and Bellingham, you've got serious problems. It suggests Castilla's players are hungrier, more organized, or both. It also suggests Alonso's first team is complacent, overly reliant on individual talent, and lacking the collective intensity needed to dominate inferior opposition.
Florentino Pérez's Negreira complaints look absurd now
Pérez has positioned Real Madrid as victims of Spanish refereeing bias. He's accused Barcelona of systematic corruption through the Negreira payments. He's demanded investigations, transparency, and accountability. Then his team benefits from one of the most obvious phantom penalties of the season against a third-tier club, and suddenly there's no outrage from the Bernabéu.
The Negreira scandal is real. Barcelona paid a former referee official for years, and that deserves scrutiny. But Pérez's holier-than-thou positioning is now exposed as selective outrage. When Madrid benefits from bad refereeing, it's just how the game goes. When Barcelona does, it's corruption that threatens Spanish football's integrity. You can't have it both ways.
What this performance says about Madrid's season
Real Madrid are struggling. They needed Mbappé to play 90 minutes against Talavera because they don't trust their squad depth. They conceded two goals to a team that couldn't score against Madrid's reserves. They got outfought for long stretches by semi-professional players. And they only advanced because the referee intervened with a decision that Spanish media universally condemned.
This isn't a blip. It's a pattern. Madrid are underperforming across competitions, relying on individual brilliance rather than collective cohesion, and now benefiting from refereeing decisions that would trigger conspiracy theories if they favored Barcelona. Alonso's talking about needing maturity and consistency, but the real issue is his team lacks the mentality to impose themselves on inferior opposition without external help.
The bottom line
Real Madrid advanced in the Copa del Rey thanks to a phantom penalty against the 19th-place team in Spain's third division. The decision was so bad that Spanish journalists called it shameful, former referees said it wasn't a penalty, and commentators suggested Mbappé should've deliberately missed out of sporting honor. This comes after months of Florentino Pérez positioning Madrid as victims of referee corruption, making the hypocrisy spectacular. When Talavera can score twice against your first team but can't score against your reserves in the same division, and you need dodgy refereeing to survive, you're not a Champions League contender—you're a club in crisis hiding behind individual talent and favorable calls.
