Real Mallorca opened the 2025/26 La Liga season on the 16th of August with a home game against reigning champions Barcelona. Rarely can the press coverage of a match of such importance be universally centred on the referee. In charge was Munuera Montero who for the first nine minutes was under the radar and from then on took centre stage. After just seven minutes an unmarked Raphina headed the Catalan side into the lead — sloppy defending.
In the ninth minute the ref booked Mallorca fullback Mateo Morey for a very innocuous foul, raising suspicions that the usual bias in favour of the top two sides in La Liga was about to unfold. Shortly afterwards Mallorca’s Kosovan striker Muriqi missed a golden opportunity to level the scores.
Drama really kicked in on the 23rd minute which incensed the home fans to a fury. A fierce shot from outside the box struck the Islander’s captain Antonio Raillo on the head and he went down and hit the deck. Protocol dictates that in the case of a head injury the referee should immediately stop the play and allow a physio to check the injured player.
Montero put the whistle to his lips and the remaining Mallorca players including goalkeeper Leo Roman dropped their hands to their sides and moved towards their stricken skipper. Unbelievably Montero did not actually blow his whistle and the ball eventually fell to Barca striker Ferran Torres who thumped the ball into an unguarded net.
The physio rushed to Raillo and as he was being treated the referee slowly moved towards the centre circle with the ball in his hand. The crowd began to realise that he was going to allow the goal to stand. The players realised the same thing and surrounded the ref who critically yellow carded midfield player Morlanes and head coach Jagoba Arrasate. Torrents of abuse flowed from all corners of the stadium. Clearly the Barcelona players realised what had happened and the sporting and gentlemanly reaction would have been to allow Mallorca to kick off and put the ball in their net. They chose not to.
Ten minutes later Morlanes received a second yellow card for a run of the mill challenge and was sent off. A good referee would have given him a stern talking to with a warning that another transgression would see him with a second yellow and expulsion. Montero chose not to and added fuel to a simmering fire. Only six minutes later Muriqi was sent off for a high challenge on the visiting keeper. That left the home side to play an hour with nine men and a two goal deficit against Barcelona.
Montero was not finished yet – in the seventh minute of first half stoppage time, Raphina committed an awful challenge from behind on Mateo Morey. Clearly a red card had to be shown. Montero chose not to and brandished a yellow card. The stadium erupted and a number of fans left in protest.
The second half saw the nine men heroically defend against a Barca team who clearly felt a landslide victory was theirs for the taking. Goalkeeper Leo Roman was in excellent form and there was huge pride emanating from the stands. Sadly in added time Lamine Yamal scored a third for the visitors.
The appalling and disgraceful performance by the referee will no doubt go unpunished by the association. The statistics are damning — Mallorca committed 8 fouls and received 4 cards (including 2 red) and Barcelona committed 17 fouls and received 1 yellow card. Those figures alone tell the story.
The ramifications are enormous so far as Mallorca are concerned. Morlanes will miss the home game against Celta Vigo on the 23rd of August. La Liga have scheduled the kick off for 17.00 which is ridiculous to expect players to perform in the August heat of Mallorca at that time. Muriqi will miss that and the game away at Real Madrid on the 30th of August which has been scheduled for 21.30 because of the August heat in the capital. Another example of how “little” Mallorca are treated by the powers that be.