In addition to him, officials Carlos Clos Gómez and Santiago Jaime Latre have also been implicated, which has raised serious questions over the integrity of the refereeing in Spanish football.
El Debate has found out that there is a clandestine “operations room” within the CTA that operates concurrently with the VAR room.
This information was discovered through a complaint that El Debate has obtained.
It has been alleged that directions are being delivered to representatives of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in a manner that is not in accordance with the protocols that have been established, notably during matches that involve Real Madrid.
The lawsuit asserts that particular frames are being chosen in a discriminatory manner with the intention of putting Real Madrid at a disadvantage, regardless of the match officials who have been assigned this responsibility.
Within this operations room, the identity of a “Chief Operating Officer” has not been divulged.
This individual is said to have been in communication with VAR officials and CTA head Carlos Clos Gómez, but there is no recorded record of these conversations.
In addition, the complaint asserts that both Clos Gómez and Medina Cantalejo gave their approval to the building of this operations room, which made it possible to manipulate match referees in real time for purposes that could be considered unethical.
There is also the allegation that VAR pictures were manipulated, suppressed, and concealed in order to support specific entrenched interests, which is another aspect of the case that is concerning.
A continuous pattern of carefully picked frames and the deliberate concealment of images that could clarify difficult judgments is suggested by the evidence.
It is of particular concern because the suspected concealing of player aggressions, especially directed toward Real Madrid players, has been alleged to have occurred despite the existence of various camera viewpoints.
The impartiality and transparency of the officiating process are called into serious question as a result of actions like this, with claims pointing to bias committed against particular teams.
Not only does the controversy involve Medina Cantalejo and Clos Gómez, but it also involves a number of other referees, some of whom are involved in the Negreira case that is being investigated by the magistrate Joaquín Aguirre from the Court of Instruction number 1 of Barcelona.
For example, it has been alleged that referee Jaime Latre admitted to agents of the Civil Guard that certain colleagues had paid Negreira’s son for tutoring services without valid contracts or invoices as evidence.
A similar situation is occurring with referee David Medié, who is being investigated for payments that were given to Negreira’s son, which further taints the reputation of refereeing in Spanish football.
As the investigations continue, these damaging claims cast a cloud over the legitimacy of refereeing in Spanish football, and Real Madrid finds itself embroiled in a controversial issue as a result of the situation.
