Real Madrid Money & Penalties

Real Madrid - Money (and penalties) do not always bring happiness

Ozren Podnar

Even though he took over at Real Madrid just three months ago, Carlo Ancelotti has already entered the club's history. On Saturday, 28th September, the former Chelsea's manager became the first coach since John Toshack to lose a Madrid derby in La Liga. The Brazilian Diego Costa gave Atlético the win in the first half with the only goal of the night.

Almost fourteen years had passed since Atlético's previous 3-1 win in the 1999/2000 season. Amazingly, that team managed by Claudio Ranieri, went down to the second division at the end of that season despite a stellar roster that included Hasselbaink, Solari, Valerón, Capdevila, Aguilera and Molina.

Real Madrid are currently five points behind Barcelona and Atlético, each of whom have won all seven matches played so far. But, the gap would have been wider if Madrid had not been lent a hand by a referee at lowly Elche.

Saved by a phantom penalty

Three days before el derbi madrileno, Real defeated newly promoted Elche 2-1 by virtue of a penalty invented by the referee Múniz Fernández in the fifth minute of added time, when only three minutes should have been played as shown by the fourth referee.

The episode, Cristiano Ronaldo scored from the spot to clinch the shameful three points, prompted Barcelona's defender Gerard Piqué to tweet "I spent a nice evening watching a comedy movie on Canal+", and Barca's chairman Sandro Rosell to claim the day after, "I still cannot believe what I saw last night.

Since Florentino Pérez returned to the post of Real Madrid's president in the summer of 2009, his team have had few reasons to complain about the officiating. Real Madrid have significantly benefited from the referees' peculiar criteria on awarding penalties.

According to the Mundo Deportivo daily, in the past four seasons plus the initial seven matches of the current campaign, the Castillians have taken 44 penalties in the Primera división, compared to mere 25 awarded to Barcelona. In the three seasons between 2010 and 2013 in which Mou was manager, Madrid lead the ranking with 12, 13 and 9 penalty kicks, respectively.

As for penalties against, Real have also been better off than Barca, with only ten versus fifteen awarded against their chief rivals. This means that Madrid have had 34 penalties in favour more than penalties against (44 - 10), while Barcelona have had to settle for just ten (25 - 15).

From these figures, one would think that Real Madrid are a much more offensive outfit, creating more danger in the area than their Catalan rivals. Except this is far from reality. If anything, it is Barca who have more players inclined to taking the opponents' defenders one on one (Messi, Iniesta, Pedro and, until recently, Villa).

More favours than trophies

Penalties have not been the only segment of play in which Madrid have been heavily fancied by the officials. Pepe's stomping on Leo Messi in a 2012 Cup tie was left unsanctioned, while Mourinho received a light two-match ban for poking Tito Vilanova in the eye at the end of a 2011 Supercup game.

Still, such advantageous treatment has not really translated into trophies. During Florentino's second reign, Real have added only three pieces of silverware to their trophy room - one Copa del Rey (2011), one League championship (2012) and a minor achievement in the form of a Supercup (2012). Barca have been far more prolific in the same period with thirteen trophies, including three League titles.

Real Madrid recently made headlines by signing Gareth Bale for a sum estimated at between 91 and 100 million euros. Bale thus became either the most expensive or the second most expensive player of all time, depending on which version is correct.

Earlier in September Cristiano Ronaldo signed a new contract guaranteeing him 17 million euros per season, currently the highest salary in soccer. Should all this enormous spending combined with the indulgent refereeing fail to bring Madrid success in the way of trophies, it might just turn out to be the most welcome irony in modern sport.