Jude Bellingham was denied a late winner for Real Madrid when referee Jesus Gil Manzano had his Clive Thomas moment in Saturday’s LaLiga clash against Valencia.

Thomas was the Welsh ref who controversially ruled out Zico’s winner against Sweden at the 1978 World Cup.

Bellingham was then booked for swearing giving Spanish radio pundits the excuse to say f**k as often as they pleased all through Saturday night and Sunday morning as they analysed what had happened. 

Here are 10 things we learned from La Liga this weekend. 

Jude Bellingham was denied a late winner for Real Madrid when referee Jesus Gil Manzano blew for full time as a cross went into the box

Bellingham was subsequently sent off at the end of the match after fuming over the decision

There are times when referees should give post-match interviews

Jesus Gil Manzano could certainly have cleared up some things on Saturday after his moment of madness in Valencia’s 2-2 draw with Real Madrid. 

He could have told us why he only added a minute extra for the VAR check on the penalty he had awarded when it took nearly three minutes. 

And why, having only added one minute, he then let Madrid take a corner when that minute was already up. And why having let them take the corner he didn’t allow the whole corner to play out before blowing his whistle.

Jesus Gil Manzano could have cleared things up after denying Madrid a late winner against Valencia by explaining his strange decision at the end of the game

Bellingham was sent off at the end of the match by Manzano but Madrid are set to appeal the card

Real can use the Greenwood argument to get Bellingham off his red

The leaders will appeal against Bellingham’s red card and they have a test case from this season to back them up. 

Mason Greenwood was sent off for swearing at the referee but the card was rescinded when it was shown he said ‘f*** sake’ in frustration at not being given a foul. 

Bellingham also does not insult the referee. He just says: ‘It’s a f***ing goal’. It’s a yellow at most.

Real Madrid have a case to appeal against Jude Bellingham’s red card after Mason Greenwood (right) had his sending off rescinded earlier in the season

The ref has form for this

Jesus Gil Manzano has booked more big stars than the events organisers at Madison Square Garden. He has sent off Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez and Robert Lewandowski in his career. 

He was always going to be the first to show Bellingham red.

Manzano has a history of handing out red cards to huge LaLiga players over the years

Pedri’s injury record could hurt Spain’s Euros chances

He has now had six muscle injuries in three years. Whether it’s that first season when he played over 70 games or a problem with the treatment he is receiving, it’s going to be difficult for him to get back to his best for Euro 2024 in Germany. 

He was the great hope of Spanish football but so many problems, all in his right leg, are preventing him from fulfilling his potential. No wonder he was in tears on Sunday night.

Pedri has now had six muscle injuries in three years after being injured at the weekend

Xavi is still learning, and it shows

When Pedri got injured just before half time Xavi brought on Lamine Yamal. He had already used up one substitution window when De Jong got injured midway through the half. 

Why didn’t he wait until half time to make the next change saving himself two change windows for the second half? Every now and then we are reminded that both he and his backroom staff are hugely inexperienced.

Xavi’s questionable substitutions in Sunday’s clash against Athletic Bilbao highlighted his tactical inexperience

Barca’s best midfield has been wiped out

Barcelona’s midfield looked more than promising at the start of this season. Pedri, Gavi and Frenkie de Jong was as good as anything anyone else had but now they are all injured just as the season reaches its climax.

Gavi will not be back before October and Frenkie De Jong (also injured Sunday) and Pedri will miss, at least the second leg against Napoli next week.

Frenkie de Jong was also injured in Barcelona’s weekend clash amid a midfield crisis for the LaLiga giants

Raphinha underwhelms… again

‘He cost 65m euros, landed on us by Deco (his then-agent and now Barca sporting director), he never goes past anyone and he scores fewer goals that Mascherano.’ That’s what one Barcelona columnist wrote about Raphinha in Marca on Monday. 

Okay so the bit about fewer goals than Mascherano is an Olympic level exaggeration but it’s true that Barcelona’s most expensive acquisition in the last few years has struggled to step up. 

Too often he’s left in the shadow of 16-year-old Lamine Yamal who does lead the team from the front.

Raphinha has largely underwhelmed since joining Barcelona from Leeds in a £56m move in 2021

Xavi has reinvented Andreas Christensen

One good thing that came out of Barcelona’s failure to beat Athletic Club on Sunday was that they kept a clean sheet for the second game running for the first time in five months. 

Moving Christensen into holding midfield has coincided with the upturn in Barca’s defensive stability and Xavi deserves credit for that.

Moving Andreas Christensen into holding midfield has coincided with the upturn in Barca’s defensive stability

Diakhaby deserved better luck

Valencia’s Mouctar Diakhaby has a big heart. He showed up in LaLiga as a gangly error-prone centre-back but he has improved over recent seasons to the extent where he is now one of the club’s most reliable defenders and more than capable of playing as a holding midfielder too. 

Valencia fans have taken him to heart because he has always given everything for the team. On Saturday against Real Madrid he dislocated his knee and the fear is that all the ligaments are torn to the extent where it’s a question of ‘if’ he can come back to his best not ‘when’. 

The faces of the players around him told the story after Aurelien Tchouameni fell into his leg. It’s one of the most horrific injuries seen for a long time.

Valencia’s Mouctar Diakhaby has become one of the club’s most reliable defenders

Diakhaby suffered a horror injury against Madrid as players cut shocked figures at the extent of the damage done to his knee

Villa freebie ought to earn longer deal

Bertrand Traore got his first league start for Villarreal on Sunday and made the most of it with a performance that would have earned him man-of-the-match were it not for Alex Sorloth’s hat-trick. 

The free transfer from Aston Villa in January only has a deal until the summer but will get a longer contract if he can build on his weekend display.