Referee report confirms why Real Madrid match was halted amid Raul Asencio insults | OneFootball

The defender was targeted by opposition fans

Real Madrid’s win over Real Sociedad was halted during the first half because of abusive chanting at Raul Asencio, the referee’s report has confirmed.

Just before half-time of Madrid’s 1-0 win in the Copa del Rey semi-final first leg, referee Jose Maria Sanchez stopped the game briefly after Vinicius, who was making his debut as Real Madrid captain, drew the referee's attention to fans targeting his teammate Raul Asencio with insults.

Play eventually resumed and the half-time whistle was soon blown. Asencio was substituted at the break so did not reappear for the second half.

Filed after the game, the referee’s report read: “In the 46th minute, number 7 D. Vinicius José De Oliveira Do Nascimento, captain of Real Madrid CF, tells me that his teammate number 35 D. Raúl Asencio Del Rosario is being insulted from behind one of the goals where there are members of the public carrying objects from the local club.

"The insults that were being made at that moment were heard by me shouting: "Asencio, die!", in a choreographed manner and repeated by that section of the stands, instantly activating the protocol, informing the security coordinator of the match, and everything being communicated by megaphone so that the insults would stop, without any further incident occurring.”

No further incidents were reported after this intervention. Speaking after the game, Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said of the incident: "Vinicius spoke to the referee, the referee stopped the game, he applied the protocol, that was what had to happen.

He added: "I took [Asencio] off because of two things, he was affected, and he had a yellow card, so I preferred to take him off. I think nobody likes that a stadium chants for you to die, I think he was affected in that sense. He wasn't exactly happy, I preferred to take him off in case how he was feeling could affect the game."