The referee at the centre of the Jude Bellingham red card row has shared how his family have been targeted with threats and ‘attacks’ and stressed that football is ‘getting out of hand’ and ‘promoting violence’ on a Spanish television programme.
Juan Luis Munuera Montero handed the English international a straight red card during Real Madrid’s clash with Osasuna on Saturday, after believing that Bellingham had told him: ‘f*** you’.
Bellingham has argued that he had said ‘f*** off’ in frustration at his own actions, but his pleas to stay on the pitch fell on deaf ears, and the 21-year-old could face a significant ban for his use of foul and abusive language.
In the wake of the swirling controversy, Real Madrid are believed to have even considered leaving LaLiga as they feel Bellingham’s sending off was only the most recent of a slew of decisions to go against them.
Adding to the noise, Munuera Montero is under investigation by the compliance committee of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) for an unrelated incident centred on his ‘extra-sporting activities’.
The official is the owner of a sports consultancy agency, Talentus Sports, whose alleged clients include the likes of UEFA, LaLiga and several other football clubs, reportedly such as Atletico Madrid and Manchester City.
Jose Luis Munuera Montero has spoken out against the abuse that referees receive in LaLiga
The official found himself in the firing line after handing Jude Bellingham a straight red card
But Munuera Montero was keen to stress that he had ‘never, ever’ been paid by a footballing entity and that he is prepared to defend himself to the hilt in an appearance on El Partidazo on Tuesday evening.
The official added that referees were constantly under threat, stating: ‘Today it was my turn, but how long has the committee been suffering these attacks?
‘They are vilifying my nephews, they are attacking my nine brothers, my 80-year-old father went to mass today and… I better keep quiet.
‘What are we creating? How can we show in a newspaper the barbarities that we are saying? Are we crazy? Are we controlling violence or promoting it? This is getting out of hand. What sport are we creating with football?
‘Before they sent me another hundred thousand death threats or insults, I silenced my Linkedin account so that the same thing wouldn’t happen again. I’m not afraid, it’s for my protection and that of my family. They are in a bad way, very worried.
‘They haven’t asked me to stop because they know that’s impossible. My parents don’t deserve this.’
Munuera Montero was keen not to look back at the Real Madrid controversy, adding that he ‘hadn’t given any thought to what happened on Saturday.’
He added: ‘People shouldn’t believe everything they read. We have to try to help. I issued the statement because I couldn’t take it any more. You’re walking down the street… but where are we going with this?
‘We are professionals who have families, who want the best for football and we don’t want to make mistakes. As long as Munuera Montero is on the pitch or in the VAR, he will continue to make mistakes.
Munuera Montero shed light on the difficulties that referees face and how unsympathetic fans are to human error
‘If people thought that with the VAR the mistakes would end, they were wrong. As long as we are people, we will continue to make mistakes, let’s be clear. We didn’t put the VAR in place, the teams did.’
The referee also argued that his company was set up in a bid to ‘transmit the values of refereeing to young people’.
‘Since I have been doing it for a long time, I thought of starting a company,’ Munuera Montero continued. ‘I have been doing it for a year now, and I and other sportsmen give talks to companies of all kinds.
‘As an extra service, and that is where the whole mess came from, we offer a free service on Linkedin to the people who go to these conferences, without any kind of connection, let’s be clear, neither economic nor contact, in which we create a database with the job offers generated by sport, basketball, tennis, football… so that young people who have done a postgraduate degree in sport have a reference site to be able to see these job offers. Full stop. There is nothing else.’
Munuera Montero explained that he would not be refereeing in LaLiga this weekend due to there being ‘twenty referees and ten matches’ and added that he had been keen to step aside ‘until this is cleared up’.
By contrast, Real Madrid – and Jude Bellingham – will return to action on Wednesday evening, when they face off with Manchester City in a bid to confirm their spot in the Champions League round of 16.
The Spanish giants have a one-goal lead after Bellingham scored a late winner at the Etihad to swipe the tie 3-2 on the road.
