Huijsen blasts RFEF over one-game suspension

Dean Huijsen has hit out at the Spanish football federation's (RFEF) appeals committee's decision to confirm his one-game suspension, despite an earlier admission that the Real Madrid defender shouldn't have been sent off last weekend.

Huijsen, 20, was shown a straight red card in Madrid's 2-1 win at Real Sociedad last Saturday, with referee Jesus Gil viewing his foul on Mikel Oyarzabal as denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.

The centre-back was subsequently handed a one-game ban, despite the incident being discussed in the CTA [refereeing committee]'s latest video analysis of controversial decisions on Tuesday, with an admission that "the most appropriate punishment would have been a yellow card."

Nonetheless, the RFEF's appeals committee upheld the punishment on Thursday, finding that "differing interpretations" of the incident were possible, "including the one in the referee's report."

That meant that the referee's on-field interpretation could not be deemed a "clear and obvious error," the committee said.

"They admit the mistake but I'm still punished," Huijsen posted in an Instagram story on Thursday. "A good image for Spanish football."

On Tuesday, the CTA's video round-up -- published weekly this season, in a bid for greater transparency around refereeing -- had said the Huijsen foul on Oyarzabal, which came near the halfway line, with another defender, Éder Militão, close by, was "open to interpretation."

"The action presents two possible scenarios, depending on a second Real Madrid defender [Militao]," the video's voiceover said. "If we believe that he could arrive and challenge for the ball, the adequate punishment should be a yellow card, for a promising attack. If, as the referee interpreted, the distance makes it impossible for him to challenge for the ball, it's a clear goalscoring opportunity, punished by a sending off."

The CTA said the incident "doesn't 100% meet the necessary criteria for 'DOGSO' [denial of a goalscoring opportunity], and the most appropriate punishment would have been a yellow card," although it also argued that the VAR had been correct not to intervene.

"This move falls within what we call grey areas, which admit more than one interpretation. So the decision should remain with the on-field referee," the CTA said.

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The Huijsen red card prompted Real Madrid's in-house TV channel, Real Madrid TV, to announce that the club was compiling a dossier of refereeing decisions in Spain over the past year, to send to FIFA.

Huijsen will now miss Madrid's LaLiga game with Espanyol on Saturday.

Madrid have been frequent critics of Spanish refereeing standards, and that criticism has grown in the wake of the Negreira scandal, with witnesses giving evidence in court this week as part of an investigation into payments made by rivals Barcelona to Spain's former vice-president of referees.