Over the summer, the Spanish referees’ committee introduced a new rule stating that only the captain can speak to the referee about decisions, and that any sign of dissent, including gestures, will be punished with a yellow card.
Los Blancos are struggling with the new rule, with nine of their 15 yellow cards coming from protests, six of their last eight for the same reason, while Barcelona and Atletico Madrid players have each received one yellow card for protesting so far.
Real Madrid players struggle to adapt to new rule
Although Vinicius Junior was lucky to escape a second yellow card after laughing at the fourth official and sarcastically applauding the referee’s decision to add six minutes of stoppage time, Lucas Vazquez felt they had been treated harshly.
“In the last two games we were punished more for protests than penalties,” Vazquez said. “We got two cards without making a single mistake, then they made 10 and didn’t get a single card. It’s something that has to be looked at, but I understand that everything will improve.”
Carlo Ancelotti said after the match that the team had to adapt to these new rules, despite his objection to showing Modric a yellow card, despite him being the captain who can speak in such situations.