Jose Mourinho has admitted Kylian Mbappe’s penalty for Real Madrid against Racing de Santander was a “soft” decision, while insisting the ruling did not influence the outcome of the match.
Mbappe was awarded the spot-kick during Sunday’s La Liga fixture and converted it to help Real Madrid secure a 3-0 victory. The decision prompted significant debate over the referee’s call.
After the match, refereeing experts concluded that Mbappe should not have been awarded a penalty for the incident. The Spanish referees’ committee also acknowledged earlier on Wednesday that the match official had made an error.
Mourinho was asked about the decision after Real Madrid’s Champions League match against Greek club AEK Athens on Wednesday.
“For me, it was a soft penalty, I admit that,” Mourinho said. “If it had been given against me, I would not have been happy.”
However, he played down the significance of the decision and said Real Madrid would have won comfortably regardless of whether the penalty had been awarded.
“It was a situation that had no effect on the points,” he said, in comments reported by AS. “Even if we had not been given the penalty, we would have won by three, four or five goals.
“If we had needed to score more, we would have done so, but the team did not want to continue scoring.”
The comments came after the Spanish referees’ committee formally accepted responsibility for the controversial call, which had already been criticised by refereeing analysts following the game.
Mourinho praises Nadal’s Real Madrid role
Mourinho also welcomed the decision to appoint Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal to the Real Madrid board.
The former world number one is a well-known Real Madrid supporter, and Mourinho said the club and Nadal were both deserving of praise for the appointment.
“I take my hat off to Real Madrid, and to the great Rafa Nadal,” Mourinho said. “I think he is a great Real Madrid supporter, and he certainly has to be to join the board.
“But Rafa Nadal is Rafa Nadal, and as a coach I feel very proud to have him with us.”
Mourinho then joked that Nadal’s new position should not change the way supporters of other clubs view the tennis player.
“I just hope that fans of other clubs who love Nadal do not stop loving him because he is a Real Madrid supporter,” he added.
