Why Real Madrid’s complaint against referee for Vinicius chants looks doomed

Real Madrid filed a complaint on Monday evening against Juan Martinez Munuera, the referee for their clash against Osasuna at the weekend. They alleged that he had been deliberately negligent in their statement, after failing to include ‘Vinicius, die’ chants in his match report, despite having them pointed out to him during the game.

However it seems highly unlikely to be successful. As explained by Cadena Cope, unless the chants are racist or homophobic in nature, the referee is not required to take action, but rather the match delegate from the RFEF and the match director from La Liga are the ones required to report other offensive chants.

In this case, the Vinicius chants have been reported to the Competition Committee, who will then decide what action to take. Nevertheless, the chants against Vinicius were not in Munuera’s purview, and it appears Los Blancos are unclear about this.

Real Madrid’s public statement was strong, and as much as anything else, it seems likely that it was aimed at defending Vinicius and raising awareness of the treatment the Brazilian is receiving, rather than going after Munuera. It will be Vinicius who sits out the next La Liga matchday though,  after he picked up his fifth yellow card against Osasuna, and will be suspended for Athletic Club’s visit to the Santiago Bernabeu.