Iraola, outraged by the arbitration: “It’s not one decision, not two… The difference in criteria annoys you”

Indignation is the general feeling of Rayo, after their controversial draw in Los Cármenes. The red-haired team had a great first half, leading to a 0-2 lead in the 16th minute, but everything went wrong in the second half, with the expulsion of Comesaña. The Galician saw the second yellow card in minute 51, which caused the incredulity of the Vallecano bench, which argued that a similar action by Petrovic had gone unpunished minutes before. Iraola’s words made Hernández Hernández draw a card from him. “For making technical observations on one of my decisions,” he explained.

Nevertheless, the Basque coach did not finish the game. She saw a new card by “instruct one of his players to drop onto the field of play with the intention of wasting time”, as reflected in the minutes. Something that Iraola himself revealed in the press conference after the crash: “He expelled me for telling Álvaro to waste time, which is something that all the coaches in the world do when your team is winning. I don’t know to what extent they can kick you out for that… I guess so, because they kicked me out. I hope they are as strict with all the technicians…”.

However, the controversy did not end there.. Already in minute 92′, Iglesias Villanueva —from the VOR room— alerted Hernández Hernández to check a possible hand of Mario Suárez inside the area and he decreed the maximum penalty against Rayo after seeing it on the screen. Milla did not fail and put the final tie in discount before the bitter protests of the visiting players. especially the captain Mario Suárez, who uploaded a video to Twitter with said action. That shot shows how the red-and-red center clears the ball with his head. The tweet attached the images of the discord and a emoji of a face with a closed mouth. Isi, for his part, wrote: “AGAINST EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE!“. In that line was another message from Catena: “We gave everything to take the three points but there are things that do not depend on us”.

It was the coach, Iraola, who verbalized before the media the regret and feeling of the locker room, very hurt by what happened in Granada. “The analysis is difficult to fit. When we have been eleven against eleven we have played very well and well, the second part is very conditioned. From the expulsion, the non-expulsion of the first half (Petrovic), the penalty play… It’s very difficult to accept, really”, began the one from Usurbil, who continued: “This group deserved a victory. We have had to suffer with one less and, when it seemed that we could take it, in discount time, the penalty came. They sold us that the VAR was going to enter into very clear plays and oysters… It is very difficult to assume“.

It has not been a specific decision that has bothered Rayo. “There are many things. It is not a decision or two mistakes. He has already added two minutes in the first part, without VAR interventions, or that they have attended to anyone. Then nine minutes, plus two more… The difference in criteria pisses you off. They gave us two minutes losing at Villamarín and both teams made all the changes. This won’t do any good, but you feel that your players have done a terrific job, they deserved that award and somehow they have taken it away from you…“, lament.

What’s more, the record of Hernández Hernández reveals another aspect. “At the end of the match, with the referee quartet on the field of play, we were able to identify David Cobeño, Rayo’s sports director, making ostensible gestures of protest and addressing us with fuss, constantly repeated, finding said person inside the field. Next, when we were going to changing rooms, said person was in the tunnel, continuing with the protests in a repeated, angry and ostensible way, “he said.