Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane was admittedly “annoyed” at persistent questions that had immediately arisen over controversial refereeing decisions after his side edged Barca out of the La Liga top spot with a 2-1 win at Real Sociedad that saw some contentious calls.
The usually reticent and unflappable Frenchman was forced to defend his team after three key refereeing decisions went their way at Reale Arena on Sunday.
Barcelona defender Gerard Pique had claimed in the build-up to the game that too many decisions were going Madrid’s way after their 3-0 win over Valencia, in which Rodrigo Moreno had an opening goal ruled out. Zidane came to his team’s defense then and again did so following the victory at Reale Arena, which featured three key decisions that all seemed to favour Madrid.
“It annoys me that at the end of the day people are only talking about the referees as if we did nothing out on the pitch,” Zidane told a virtual news conference.
“But we cannot control what people will say. We win matches on the pitch and that’s what we did today. It was a deserved victory.”
Sergio Ramos kicked off the goal-scoring proceedings with an opening opener just after the break with a penalty after what looked like a questionably dubious foul on Vinicius Jr, while Sociedad had an Adnan Januzaj strike ruled out later for a positional offside against Mikel Merino.
Karim Benzema subsequently made it a double offensive to Madrid’s advantage in the 70th minute after hailing down a cross with the top of his arm, and the goal was awarded following a VAR review.
“I didn’t see the plays but I’ve been told the penalty decision was correct and that Benzema’s goal was legal,” Zidane said. “I don’t get involved in controversies because that’s the referee’s job. I just want to think about our deserved victory.
“I would prefer to talk about football and the match, I can’t say anything else about the other things.”
Merino, in the 83rd minute, managed to pull one back for Sociedad but was highly critical of the referee’s decisions, particularly the one disallowing Januzaj’s goal.
“We’re angry with everything but mainly with the way we lost, because the little details and the big moments went against us,” the 24-year-old Spanish midfielder said.
“I was at least five metres from Courtois when I was flagged offside. I don’t know if the same thing would have happened had it been in the other area but the flag went up and we feel that we have been wronged.”
Real have won all their three matches since the season resumed after the coronavirus hiatus and now lead the title race courtesy of a superior head-to-head record over Barcelona, who had to settle for a goalless draw against Sevilla. Nevertheless Zidane is convinced there was still a long way to go.
“We haven’t achieved anything yet even though we’ve got nine points from nine,” he said with another eight rounds of Liga matches remaining.
“It’s going to be difficult right until the end. We always want more and you have to recognise how great our attitude was today. We saw a team that always wanted to win.”