La Liga president says Real Madrid conspiracy claims are 'in another galaxy'

Real Madrid's post-derby press conference turned into a miniature courtroom. Head coach Jose Mourinho walked in with two printed screenshots of tackles he believed should have been red cards for Atletico Madrid. He did not mention possession, did not mention shots on target, did not offer a single statistic. He offered paper evidence, and the media immediately made it the story. But this was not a normal press conference. It was the opening move in a power struggle. Real Madrid had just lost 2-1 to Atletico. They are six points behind Barcelona. The season has only just begun, but the pressure on the coaching staff and dressing room is already much bigger than the table suggests. When results turn bad, clubs need an explanation. The easiest explanation is to point at the referee. One detail must be verified. The original article names Jose Mourinho as Real Madrid's current head coach, but Mourinho previously managed the club between 2026 and 2026. The coaching attribution in the source article cannot be treated as certain. What matters is not the name, but the behavior: a coach bringing printed images into a press conference to explain away a poor result. In my experience following Madrid derbies, a pattern emerges: big clubs rarely mention the referee when they are winning. They only bring up officiating when results start slipping away. Real Madrid is no exception. Two printed images do not answer why the attack looked blunt against a deep Atletico block, or why the team conceded twice. La Liga president Javier Tebas did not stay silent. In his latest statement, he called Real Madrid's claim of a refereeing conspiracy 'another galaxy'. He insisted referees cannot be directed by the badge, by revenue, or by viewership. If referees deliberately harmed a club because that club is big, they would be destroying the business that feeds them. That is an argument about interest, but also about the system. Tebas and Real Madrid president Florentino Perez have never been close. They have clashed over broadcast rights, financial plans, and league reforms. Perez is an outspoken president who does not avoid public confrontation. Tebas is a tough administrator who defends the league's central authority. This clash is not an isolated incident; it is a new chapter in a long-running institutional war. To understand the case, three layers must be separated. The first layer is sporting. Real Madrid have had a stuttering start, losing the derby and falling behind Barcelona. The analysis provides no xG, no PPDA, no passing diagrams. Without process data, any refereeing accusation is only one-sided testimony. A missed red-card tackle may be an error, but it does not explain why Real Madrid failed to score. The second layer is power. The phrase 'La Liga is worth nothing without Real Madrid' is essentially a commercial lever. It implies that the club with the biggest broadcast appeal deserves special treatment. Tebas rejects that logic. He says the competition belongs to no one. This is a fight between the value of one club and the value of the collective. The third layer is media. The analysis describes Real Madrid-aligned media as 'the regime's television', a channel that amplifies refereeing grievances. When a club controls its own media channel, it can turn a brief incident into a major campaign. It replays two slow-motion clips while ignoring the rest of the match. Fans of that channel see an aggrieved Real Madrid; neutral viewers see a club deflecting attention. Tebas also made a crucial point: it is more comfortable to point to a conspiracy than to explain what is happening on the pitch. That sentence hits the weakest point of Real Madrid's campaign. If the team truly deserved a better result, they should present the numbers. So far, the public has only received two images and a story about injustice. At its core, this controversy is about refereeing standards. The Madrid derby is always physical. Spanish referees often allow a high threshold of contact. If Atletico truly escaped two red cards, that is an officiating error. But moving from one refereeing error to a systematic conspiracy is a very long leap. More than two images and a press conference are needed to prove that. The biggest risk is not in the standings. It is in trust. When the league's biggest club accuses referees of being directed against them, the commercial value of the competition is threatened. Sponsors want a fair league. Broadcasters want a product without scandal. If the conspiracy campaign spreads, La Liga loses its most valuable asset: the integrity of the game. Tebas understands this, which is why he responded quickly and firmly. But dismissing Real Madrid entirely would miss a blind spot. Spanish refereeing has never been perfect. VAR has frustrated many clubs. Decisions are not always explained transparently. When a big club raises questions, even with a hidden agenda, the question may still contain part of the truth. Tebas may be right that Real Madrid are hiding their on-pitch limitations. Yet an institution cannot protect referees simply by calling all criticism a fantasy. At this point, I return to my own rule. I was wrong at the 2026 World Cup, and the lesson I learned is that every judgment must be checked against two independent sources. This refereeing story is the same. Real Madrid's accusation must be checked. Tebas's denial must also be checked. Fans should not choose sides based on emotion. They should ask: where is the evidence? What stands out is Real Madrid's timing. They released the two images immediately after the derby, while emotions were still high. They did not wait for a review process. They chose to tell their own story first. That is disciplined media strategy, but it is also a sign of internal impatience. Barcelona are leading, Atletico just won the derby, and Real Madrid are turning themselves into the center of an off-field argument. They can buy time by blaming referees, but time is not points. As each round passes, the six-point gap may grow if the team does not solve its real problems on the pitch. From an investigative journalist's perspective, I look at structure, not incidents. One controversial refereeing decision is normal. Many decisions grouped inside a media campaign is deliberate. When a club repeats the same message through many channels, it is not searching for truth. It is building a narrative. That narrative can serve several purposes: easing pressure on the coach, uniting the dressing room, or putting pressure on the league before important fixtures. But it does not change the fundamental problem. Real Madrid are six points behind Barcelona. The team needs wins, not more printed images. Tebas chose to attack the narrative directly. He did not discuss individual calls. He talked about the system. He called the conspiracy claim a matter from another galaxy, where there are no points, no data, and no accountability. That is political language, but it hits the center of the issue: if Real Madrid cannot produce evidence, they are only generating noise. The final question is not for Real Madrid or Tebas. It is for everyone who works in football: do we want a league driven by evidence or by brand power? If evidence, then both sides must release their data. If brand power, then we accept that one club can write its own rules. La Liga is facing that choice.