Atletico Madrid refute allegations of referee relationship | OneFootball

Earlier this week, it was claimed that Atletico Madrid have a relationship with Talentus Sports Speakers, whose partner is Jose Luis Munuera Montero, the referee that sent off Jude Bellingham last weekend. As a result of this, the official was placed under investigation by the Spanish Football Federation, although he has since been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Regardless, Atleti have now come out to address the situation from their perspective. As per Relevo, they have denied having any sort of relationship or involvement with Talentus Sports Speakers or Munuera Montero.

“Since last Tuesday, February 18, various media outlets have echoed the publications of an anonymous account on the social network X, @Fanaticos_RMCF, in which with screenshots of the LinkedIn profile of the company Talentus Sports Speakers, which collects job offers from the sports industry from a multitude of organizations and clubs, they intended to professionally associate referee José Luis Munuera Montero with our club, implying that there was a conflict of interest.

“Most of these media have maintained this false information, even after it was clarified by our communication department. We can confirm that the club does not maintain or has maintained any commercial or contractual relationship with the company Talentus Sports Speakers and that the information that has been published does not conform to reality at all. At the same time, the Compliance Department of the Royal Spanish Football Federation has also confirmed that there is no conflict of interest between the activities of José Luis Munuera Montero’s company and his work as a referee.”

Photo by El Nacional

Atletico Madrid will be keen to move on from this matter, but it is entirely understandable that they are displeased about these allegations. The club as a whole will now set its focus towards Friday’s draw for the last 16 of the Champions League, where they will be matched up against Real Madrid or Bayern Munich.