In La Liga Matchday 4, Real Madrid lost to Real Betis 0-1 away, with several controversial referee decisions. Analyzing current regulations and the new refereeing standards from Spain's Technical Refereeing Committee (CTA) for this season, Iturralde González, refereeing analyst for AS and Spain's SER radio, reviewed multiple controversial decisions in Real Betis's home match against Real Madrid.

Real Betis vs. Real Madrid

In the 53rd minute, Güler nearly received a second yellow card and would have been sent off. Güler received his first yellow card in the first-half stoppage time for a foul on Fornals. Just eight minutes into the second half, he committed another foul while defending against Roca—an action that could have resulted in a red card for two yellows.

Iturralde explained on the program "Carrusel": "For the first foul, Alejandro Hernández issued a yellow card because he deemed it broke up a dangerous attack, not because the foul itself was particularly serious. Alejandro Hernández actually showed considerable restraint throughout the match... The second action was more deserving of a yellow card than the first, but that doesn't mean I think the first yellow shouldn't have been issued. Referees are currently being trained with the idea that a second yellow must be for a much more serious offense than the first, but there is no basis for this in the laws of football."

Several controversial moments occurred late in the match. In the 86th minute, Espi scored, but the goal was disallowed by VAR due to a Real Madrid player being in an offside position during the buildup play.

Iturralde explained: "This year, with sensors integrated into the football and the automatic offside system, human error in refereeing has been significantly reduced. Now, except for rare cases where the system cannot distinguish between a defender and a forward, all decisions are made by the machine. From the slow-motion replay, it was clearly an offside."

In the 93rd minute, De Osa committed a foul on Vinicius, and a penalty was awarded. Iturralde stated directly: "This is an undisputed penalty. "

Mbappé subsequently took the penalty, but his shot was saved by Valles. Real Madrid players demanded a retake, claiming a Real Betis defender involved in the save had encroached into the penalty area prematurely.

Iturralde explained why he believed the penalty should be retaken: "The wording of the rule lacks sufficient precision and can easily lead to different interpretations. There was a similar controversy regarding this determination at the World Cup, and the International Football Association Board (IFAB) ultimately had to clarify that the rule had been applied incorrectly. This rule is similar to a guideline from Spain's Technical Refereeing Committee (CTA), and its wording is very ambiguous. The rule text discusses player positioning when play continues, stating that if a player is in the air, their anticipated landing position should be used to determine their location.

This very sentence has created room for referee interpretation. The CTA's interpretation is that as long as a player has one foot on the ground outside the penalty area, even if their body and other leg are completely inside the penalty area, it is not considered encroachment. This is the CTA's logic for interpreting the rule. However, in my understanding, if a player is in the air, even with one foot outside the penalty area, but their entire body has already moved into the penalty area, their anticipated landing position should be used to determine whether they have encroached.

The CTA will likely announce on Tuesday that a retake was not necessary. But if you read the original rule, you'll find considerable ambiguity—it entirely depends on the subjective bias of whoever is interpreting it..."

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