Refereeing expert: Mbappé did not deserve a penalty despite the bleeding | Goal.com

Published on 12 Apr 2026 | Reading time: 1 minute

Refereeing expert Pavel Fernández defended the match official’s decision not to award Kylian Mbappé a penalty during Real Madrid’s 1–1 La Liga draw with Girona last Friday, despite the French star suffering a facial injury. despite the French star suffering a facial cut.

Speaking to Radio Marca, the official refereeing analyst said: “It’s a game, but we must ignore the post-match image of Mbappé bleeding, as that affects judgement of the incident.”

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When the presenter asked, “Why leave it out? Isn’t it part of the full picture?”, Fernández replied: “If we set that image aside, and quite frankly, from all the replays I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like a penalty to me… I don’t see any deliberate movement from the Girona player or a clear foul, just a slight contact.”

The former referee continued: “Without that image, Mbappé might have appeared to exaggerate his fall… That was my impression during the live broadcast.”

When the presenter highlighted a clear blow to the arm, Fernández conceded, “When you replay the footage and zoom in, things look clearer… but in the live moment, it wasn’t obvious.”

He concluded: “My immediate thought was, ‘Maybe it’s Mbappé again, fishing for another penalty’. For me, it’s not a foul worthy of a spot-kick.”

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