Real Madrid TV and the 'Plan' Against Itself: When a Club's Own Channel Becomes a Weapon to Pressure Referees

In the 64th minute of the Madrid derby, Dean Huijsen let Giuliano Simeone slip past him inside the box. The whistle blew, the referee pointed to the spot, and the red card came out of his pocket. Real Madrid had just lost a man, conceded a goal, and the 2-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid became routine in a season where the abnormal has become the brand.

But the truly remarkable moment was not on the pitch. It was in the studio of Real Madrid TV, where the official channel of the Royal club broadcast an unprecedented message: 'He was hanging out with Barcelona players!'

I have spent five years following Spanish football from the stands and the screen, and I can say this is not just a complaint about a referee. This is a strategic statement, a deliberate attack on the power system that runs La Liga.

Let's decode it.

Context: An unusual derby

The match at the Metropolitano was a typical derby in intensity but unusual in its flow. Huijsen, the young center-back carrying expectations, became the focal point with the foul that led to a penalty and a straight red card. Real Madrid played with ten men for most of the remaining time, and the 2-1 defeat accurately reflected what happened on the pitch.

But Real Madrid TV did not talk about the match. The channel talked about conspiracy.

The list of allegations includes: Cristian Romero and Lee Kang-in (described as Atletico players) should have been sent off; Valverde was the victim of a brutal foul without a card; referee Ortiz Arias applied different standards to both teams in the first half; and the climax was the statement about the referee 'hanging out with Barcelona players'.

Read this list carefully. It is not a sports commentary. It is an indictment structure.

Core: When a club's television channel becomes a political instrument

The formula does not lie on the tactical board. It lies in the space that tactics inadvertently leave behind.

The most important thing to understand about Real Madrid TV is that it is not an independent journalistic outlet. It is a media organ owned and operated by the club, with editors appointed from the leadership tier. When this channel makes accusations, it is not the opinion of a pundit – it is the official message of Real Madrid.

In 2026, I learned to listen. When the shouting stopped, the coach's voice became the only music on the pitch. That lesson taught me that in modern football, nothing is random. Every statement from a powerful entity is calculated, and Real Madrid TV knows exactly what it is doing.

By accusing referee Ortiz Arias of having ties to Barcelona players, the channel is exploiting a broader context: the Negreira case – the investigation into historical payments from Barcelona to a former vice-president of the Spanish refereeing committee. Though not said directly, viewers have enough background knowledge to connect the dots themselves.

This is not a complaint about a wrong decision. This is an accusation about the integrity of the refereeing system.

I do not believe in luck. I believe in systems designed to create luck. And Real Madrid TV, in its own way, is designing a narrative system that could give the club a strategic advantage in the long run.

Contrarian: Real Madrid is harming itself

Here I want to pause and offer a judgment that may be controversial: this campaign, however intentional, is backfiring on Real Madrid itself.

A team repeatedly told by its own television channel that the competition is rigged will gradually shift toward external attribution. When they lose, they do not ask themselves what they did wrong – they look for excuses from the referee. The culture of a team only reveals itself when every plan collapses. Everything else is rehearsal.

The clearest evidence is Huijsen. Instead of treating the moment as a positional mistake by a young center-back – part of the development process – the club frames him as a victim of injustice. This strips the young player of the opportunity to learn from his error. A 20-year-old defender needs to be taught that lunging into a foul in the derby box is unacceptable – not told that he is a victim of the referee.

There is a second danger: Real Madrid TV is putting referee Ortiz Arias himself in the eye of the storm. When an individual is publicly named on national television with implications of bias, the pressure does not stop at one match. It affects personal safety, working psychology, and – more importantly – it pushes other referees into a defensive posture. Will a referee have the courage to make a correct but unfavorable decision against Real Madrid in upcoming matches, knowing that their television channel is ready to make him the center of a campaign?

The answer, by Real Madrid TV's logic, is: no. But that is precisely the blind spot.

Takeaway: What happens next

After the derby, the question is not whether Real Madrid will win the title. The question is whether the club will continue to escalate or will change course when it realizes this campaign is damaging itself.

Only one thing is certain: Huijsen is suspended, Real Madrid's defense will need to be rebuilt, and the refereeing debate – in Real Madrid TV's own words – 'shows no signs of cooling down'.

Morocco is Park Hang-seo decoded in World Cup language. Same formula, two shores of the ocean. In this case, the formula is the power of club media, used differently across two football cultures.

The question for Vietnamese football fans: if a Vietnamese club owned its own television channel and began accusing referees of having ties to rivals, how would we react? Would we be clear-headed enough to recognize that as a statement from an interested party, or would we be swept up in the drama?

I am still waiting for the answer. But I know one thing: in football, as in politics, nothing is more dangerous than a story told by the only person who benefits from it.