Real Madrid vs Malaga Referee: Martínez Munuera Takes Charge at the Bernabéu

The Real Madrid vs Malaga referee for Sunday’s La Liga match is Juan Martínez Munuera, one of the most experienced officials in Spanish football. Martínez Munuera will be in the middle at the Santiago Bernabéu, while specialist video official Daniel Jesús Trujillo Suárez has been appointed as VAR. It is an experienced combination for a match in which Madrid are expected to spend long periods attacking around the Málaga penalty area.
Real Madrid have started the season strongly, while Málaga face one of the hardest away assignments possible after returning to La Liga. From a refereeing perspective, the biggest questions should involve tactical fouls on Madrid’s attacking players, penalty-area contact and how aggressively VAR intervenes in subjective situations.

Who is the referee for Real Madrid vs Málaga?

The RFEF has appointed the following officiating team:
Referee: Juan Martínez Munuera
Assistant referee 1: Diego Barbero Sevilla
Assistant referee 2: Miguel Martínez Munuera
Fourth official: Álvaro Juncal Moreira
VAR: Daniel Jesús Trujillo Suárez
AVAR: Alejandro José Hernández Hernández
The match is scheduled for Sunday at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Martínez Munuera’s referee statistics

Martínez Munuera has been a La Liga referee since 2013 and has handled many of the biggest fixtures in Spanish football. Last season he refereed 18 La Liga matches, showing 77 yellow cards, one second-yellow dismissal and one straight red. He also awarded six penalties.
That gives him an average of roughly 4.3 yellow cards per match.
Those numbers suggest a referee who is neither extremely card-heavy nor particularly reluctant to punish misconduct. He generally allows physical competition but will use cards when challenges become tactical, reckless or repetitive.

Real Madrid’s record with Martínez Munuera

Real Madrid have significant history with Martínez Munuera. Across competitions, he has refereed Madrid around 45 times, with the club recording approximately:
29 wins
9 draws
7 defeats
Those numbers should not be interpreted as evidence for or against the referee. Real Madrid win a high percentage of their matches under almost every official because of the quality of the team.
The more important point is experience. Martínez Munuera already knows the Bernabéu, the pressure around Real Madrid matches and the scrutiny that follows every penalty, red card and VAR decision.

There is previous controversy between Madrid and Martínez Munuera

The appointment will still attract attention because Real Madrid have previously criticised Martínez Munuera.
In March 2024, the club submitted a formal complaint concerning his official report after a match against Osasuna. Madrid argued that abusive chants directed at Vinícius Junior had not been properly included in the referee’s report despite players drawing attention to them during the match.
He was also the referee for Real Madrid’s 3-3 draw against Rayo Vallecano later that year, when Madrid strongly protested the non-award of a penalty following a challenge on Vinícius.
Those incidents are part of the history surrounding the appointment, but they should have no influence on Sunday’s decisions.

Vinícius could be one of the referee’s biggest tests

Vinícius naturally creates difficult refereeing situations because of the way he attacks defenders. He changes direction quickly, protects the ball well and often forces opponents into desperate challenges.
Martínez Munuera has to avoid two mistakes. He cannot award a foul every time there is physical contact, but he also cannot allow Málaga to repeatedly stop Vinícius with tactical fouls simply because every individual challenge looks relatively minor.
Persistent infringement can involve different defenders. If three separate Málaga players foul Vinícius to stop three promising attacks, the referee must recognise the pattern rather than treating each incident in complete isolation.

Mbappé creates a different refereeing problem

Mbappé’s speed makes apparently small contact much more significant. When a player is sprinting at full pace, even minor contact from behind can destroy an attacking opportunity.
That does not mean every touch is a foul. Martínez Munuera still needs to judge whether the defender made a legal challenge or carelessly impeded the attacker.
This becomes particularly important close to the penalty area, where the consequence of the decision is much greater.

Tactical fouls could become important

Málaga are likely to spend long periods without the ball. When they recover possession, they will want to counter. When they lose it, they could be vulnerable to Madrid’s speed.
That creates tactical-foul situations.
A small trip 40 metres from goal can sometimes be more deserving of a yellow card than a harder challenge in an unimportant area because it deliberately stops a promising attack.
Martínez Munuera’s experience should help him identify those situations early.

Penalty-area contact will need consistency

Madrid are likely to have plenty of possession around the Málaga penalty area, so Martinez Munuera and VAR will probably face several appeals.
The key principle is simple: contact does not automatically mean foul.
A defender is allowed normal physical contact. But if he clearly trips, holds or pushes an attacker illegally, the referee should not raise the threshold simply because the offence happens inside the penalty area.
A foul inside the box is still a foul.
At the same time, VAR should avoid using slow-motion footage to turn ordinary football contact into a penalty.

Daniel Trujillo Suárez on VAR

Daniel Jesús Trujillo Suárez is now a specialist VAR official after finishing his career as an on-field referee. That gives Martínez Munuera an experienced video referee behind him.
Specialist VAR officials can be useful because video refereeing has become a separate skill. The job is not simply to find contact or search for alternative decisions.
Trujillo should intervene when there is a clear and obvious error involving a reviewable incident.
If Martínez Munuera sees a subjective challenge clearly and makes a reasonable decision, VAR should leave it alone.
If he clearly misses a penalty, direct red card or decisive attacking offence, intervention becomes necessary.

What should we watch?

There are three main refereeing areas worth watching:
Repeated fouls on Vinícius. Málaga cannot be allowed to rotate tactical fouls without disciplinary consequences.
Contact on Mbappé around the penalty area. His speed makes these incidents difficult to judge in real time.
VAR restraint. Trujillo Suárez should support the referee rather than re-referee every subjective incident from the video room.

The VAR Verdict pre-match view

Juan Martínez Munuera is a logical appointment for this fixture. He has more than a decade of La Liga experience and has already refereed Real Madrid dozens of times.
His card numbers suggest an official who is prepared to punish misconduct without automatically turning matches into card-heavy contests.
The biggest challenge will be maintaining a consistent foul threshold, particularly if Málaga defend deep and Madrid repeatedly attack through Vinícius and Mbappé.
There is history between Martínez Munuera and Real Madrid, and supporters will inevitably discuss it before kickoff. But once the match begins, none of that should matter.
If Martínez Munuera establishes his standard early and Trujillo Suárez keeps VAR intervention to genuine clear errors, the referee should not become the story.
That would be the best possible outcome for everyone.