This is how Madrid wins

Real Madrid didn't win the last league, but they did finish top of two league tables. They were the team awarded the most penalties (14) and the team awarded the fewest penalties (3). These are numbers that leave no room for discussion. We won't go into every single play in either penalty area in Real Madrid's matches here, but it's clear that many complaints shouldn't be forthcoming. However, applying the old logic of "nothing goes without saying," the team, managed with an iron fist and without alternatives by Florentino Pérez, turned last season into a Vietnam War for all the referees who were tasked with overseeing Real Madrid's matches. They were coerced, conditioned, and pressured, week in and week out, by the cheesy videos on Real Madrid television, the club's true dialectical arm when it came to cornering the referees. A crusade unparalleled in any league in the world. A disgrace against which few clubs ( Barça , occasionally, but with a small voice, or Sevilla ) have rebelled. When it comes to Barça's influence or the Negreira case, there's no shortage of arguments, and certainly with arguments for those who feel harmed, but when it's Madrid that's doing what it's always done—influencing referees—a silent treatment is usually the norm.

His maneuvers with the referees have paid off. He would have been penalized anywhere else.

The same thing will happen with what happened this Thursday. As had been predicted for months, the president of the Spanish Football Federation, who often defers to Florentino Perez, decided to dismiss the entire refereeing team, just as Madrid had hoped. His maneuvers have paid off. Anywhere else, he would have been sanctioned for his runaway pre-match Copa del Rey match, for example.