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Real Madrid stay in touch after referee's 'robbery' of Elche's point

Despite a hectic schedule of games, César Muñiz became the protagonist in La Liga after his baffling penalty decision

At seven minutes past midnight the police finally arrived. "We've had over 120 mentions about football in the last 10 minutes," ran the tweet from Spain's Policía Nacional. "Remember," it continued, adding a smiley face at the end, "we're here to help you on questions of SAFETY :-)". It wasn't hard to imagine what had happened and it wasn't hard to imagine them having a good giggle down the station: "Hello, police? Yes, I want to report a robbery." Very soon, everyone was reporting a robbery. Here we go again.

It was right in the middle of an 11-day stretch of consecutive games, weeks five, six and seven running into each other. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, with Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday to come, and Real Madrid were at newly promoted Elche, back in the first division for the first time in almost a quarter of a century. Cristiano Ronaldo's free-kick had gone through the wall to give Madrid the lead and the clock was ticking away. Carlo Ancelotti had sent on Dani Carvajal and Asier Illarramendi to protect a precarious lead but his side seemed on course for another three points. Continue reading