The day after Endrick struck an opponent for no apparent reason or mercy, to the general astonishment of everyone except for the VAR referee (a sharp knee to the crotch, like in those 90s movies where Steven Seagal knocked out 45 enemies while standing in a pool hall without moving), the club’s official television channel has taken it upon itself to turn the situation around and what is being discussed in Spain today is whether Real Madrid players are being persecuted for protesting, a bit like those who are against Putin, the Venezuelan opposition or, closer to home, here in Spain, cattle ranchers.
One understands that these are not easy times to profess certain religious feelings, and Madrid fans are. They have been left practically alone in denouncing a corrupt system that always benefits Barcelona (there are the payments to Negreira to prove it) and only harms Real Madrid. But it is not only Spain that is against them (La Liga, the RFEF, the Generalitat, the neighbourhood associations, the indies), so are Europe and, by extension, the entire world: “against everything and against everyone” is a slogan so widespread among the white hosts that one day, not long from now, they will begin to point the finger at each other.
The protests are somewhat interesting because, in some way, there are quite a few Madrid footballers convinced of this: everyone is against them, especially shameless referees who knowingly act as henchmen of EVIL. Or maybe MAD, that faceless villain with an iron fist who caressed a colourful cat in Inspector Gadget. In reality, EVIL can be anyone, it depends on who you ask.
It must be because of things like this that Bellingham or Vinicius Jr., two of the most exalted, feel obliged to make almost constant gestures or laugh in the faces of the referees and assistants (Vini is already the professional evolution of Rafa Mora, that handsome and annoying guy who became famous on television sets saying something like “I laugh in your face”). Also to insult, harass or simply try to intimidate this kind of law enforcement officials who, on top of that, risk being pointed out by name and surname in a lot of media, not only on the official television – there are quite a few – of Real Madrid.
But let’s go back to Endrick’s “possible assault”, which is how DAZN presented the video on its social networks just after the match and without entering into the ugly game of absolute truths (there will be those who understand that Mouriño’s genitals are thrown at the young Brazilian’s knee in a wild manner, for example). Is it possible that the constant media pressure on the referees is having the desired effect or was it simply a one-off error of judgment, as usually happens in almost any football match? There will be opinions for all tastes on this: from those who believe that neither Real Madrid nor Barça have the right to complain, to those who maintain that influencing, what is called influencing, would be paying the vice president of the CTA for seven years without explaining exactly why (surely explaining it would be even worse, it is an unwritten law of life). I think that everything comes down to the construction of a story. And it seems that Madrid is no longer satisfied with being El Cid Campeador: now it wants to be Santiago Carrillo too.
