Real Betis manager hits out at Real Madrid forward for ‘throwing himself’ for penalty | OneFootball

Real Betis manager Manuel Pellegrini was very unhappy about the referee’s decision which had a big impact on the match against Real Madrid.

The decision in question was a penalty awarded to Rui Silva for a foul on Vinicius Jr., which was reviewed and confirmed by the VAR.

Real Madrid needed a win against Betis because they were seven points behind Barça at the start of the game. Carlo Ancelotti’s team managed to secure a victory with two goals from Kylian Mbappe.

The second goal came from a penalty decision by the VAR, where it was judged that Silva had fouled Vinicius, although the decision looked controversial.

Pellegrini not happy

After the match, Betis coach Manuel Pellegrini shared his thoughts and made it clear that he disagreed with the penalty decision, stating that Vinícius Jr. had dived. Pellegrini explained,

“We tried to play as equals, I think we achieved that for much of the match. We had opportunities to open the scoring,” said the Betis manager as quoted by SPORT.

“Mbappe’s goal came, the game opened up a bit more, and a second goal in which the VAR intervened in a penalty that Vinicius took when the ball had gone out of his way, he dived on the goalkeeper.

Manuel Pellegrini did not like what he saw. (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)

“The referee decided that the VAR had to be reviewed and with that, the game went in Real Madrid’s favour,” he explained.

The controversial moment occurred in the 73rd minute when a through ball from Brahim Diaz resulted in Rui Silva bringing down Vinicius Jr. Immediately, even before the assistant referee, Alberola Rojas raised his hand to signal offside, which led the assistant to follow his lead shortly after.

This confusing and incorrect decision prompted the VAR to step in. The referee was called over to review the play on the monitor, and after watching it again, he decided to cancel the offside call and award a penalty to Real Madrid.

Pellegrini also criticized referee Alberola Rojas’ handling of the game, saying, “We were 1-0 up, there was still time to try to draw or win the match and that play came in which the VAR intervened, it was likely that it would intervene.

“I remember that this same referee last year with us went to see a penalty on Assane and decided that it wasn’t one, today it was for Real Madrid, and the match ended up being over for them,” he concluded.