Real Madrid have filed an official complaint against Royal Spanish Football Federation in regard to ‘serious refereeing behaviour’ during their defeat to Espanyol.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side fell to a 1-0 loss on Saturday evening after Espanyol defender Carlos Romero scored an 85th minute for the hosts.

The goal sparked debate among Madrid fans as many felt as though Romero should have been sent off earlier in the match for a nasty challenge on Kylian Mbappe.

Now, Madrid have confirmed that they’ve launched a complain and shared the long letter which they sent to the Spanish Football Federation.

Within that letter, Madrid wrote: ‘The events that occurred in this match have exceeded any margin of human error or referee interpretation.

Real Madrid have launched a complaint against Royal Spanish Football Federation (Pictured: Club president Florentino Perez)

Madrid were frustrated after Carlos Romero was not sent off for this tackle on Kylian Mbappe

The Spanish giants later shared the letter that they sent to the Spanish refereeing body

‘What happened at the RCDE Stadium represents the culmination of a completely discredited refereeing system, in which the decisions against Real Madrid have reached a level of manipulation and adulteration of the competition that can no longer be ignored.

‘Given the seriousness of what happened, Real Madrid demands that the RFEF immediately hand over the VAR audio recordings relating to the two key plays of the match:

‘1. The audio recordings of the communication between the VAR and the field referee in the action of the tackle of the player Carlos Romero on Kylian Mbappé.

‘2. The audio recordings of the communication between the VAR and the field referee in the play of the disallowed goal for Vinicius Jr.

‘3. The conversations between the members of the VAR room in both plays.’

Shortly after Madrid’s statement, LaLiga president Javier Tebas hit back and suggested that the club failed to provide alternative solutions in a recent meeting.

According to Marca, he said: ‘I was not at all surprised by Real Madrid’s letter, as it does not say anything different from what their television channel has been repeating for some time.

‘Many of us advocate a radical change in the arbitration system, moving closer to the English or German model, with a completely different organisation and much more transparency in all the structural decisions of Spanish arbitration.

Romero later scored the all-important winning goal, as Madrid fell to a shock defeat

‘What is truly striking is that, at a LaLiga meeting on April 19, 2023, we debated and even voted on this change, and Real Madrid opposed it, appearing lukewarm and without proposing solutions. Could it have something to do with the fact that, at that time, Rubiales was the president of the RFEF and Florentino Pérez was a member of the RFEF Board of Directors?’

Madrid are currently top LaLiga by a point from city rivals Atletico, with Barcelona four behind. 

Last week Spanish FA president Rafael Louzan revealed that Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez had jokingly threatened to bring in English officials as he seeks improved officiating standards in LaLiga.

Louzan, who was elected as Royal Spanish Football Federation president last month, addressed concerns over refereeing standards during an interview on the El Cafelito podcast.

Javier Tebas claimed that Perez and Madrid opposed a vote to change officiating in Spain

He revealed Real Madrid president Perez has been vocal about his concerns following the Negreira case involving Barcelona.

Barcelona last year avoided going to trial as Spanish authorities investigated allegations the club made payments to the then-vice president of the Spanish referee’s committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

It was alleged that Negreira, who would go on to become the vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees after retiring, was paid €532,728 (£473,340) in 2016, €541,752 (£481,358) in 2017, and then a further €318,200 (£282,915) in 2018.

Louzan, who admits he has a good relationship with Perez, said the Real Madrid president has been ‘persistent’ when highlighting his frustrations with poor officiating standards.