The CTA (Technical Committee of Referees) has acknowledged several refereeing errors from Ortiz Arias and VAR official Trujillo Suárez during the Madrid derby, including the failure to send off Atlético's Kang-in Lee for his challenge on Fede Valverde.

According to the CTA's assessment, the challenge should have resulted in a direct free-kick and a straight red card for the South Korean. The committee described it as a “Clear and manifest error of the referee” and concluded that “The VAR should have intervened”.

The CTA also reviewed the incident involving Cuti Romero and Jude Bellingham. In this case, the committee backed the officials' handling of the situation and explained why Ortiz Arias went to the pitchside monitor.

The referee had initially shown Bellingham a yellow card, but VAR identified a case of mistaken identity after determining that the Real Madrid midfielder was the player who had been fouled. Despite the “Red card under review” graphic shown on television, Ortiz Arias was actually reviewing the decision to caution Bellingham.

After checking the footage, the referee overturned Bellingham's yellow card and booked Romero instead.

Real Madrid had called for a red card for the Atlético defender, but the CTA considers the incident to be one of “intensity with a high interpretive load” and believes Ortiz Arias correctly assessed the challenge as “reckless”.

The third incident highlighted by the CTA concerns Dean Huijsen's foul on Giuliano Simeone inside the penalty area. The committee praised the VAR intervention that led to the Real Madrid defender being sent off.

Ortiz Arias initially awarded a penalty and showed Huijsen a yellow card. VAR then instructed him to review the incident to determine whether the foul in the DOGSO zone, denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity, warranted a red card.

After reviewing the footage at the monitor, Ortiz Arias changed his decision and sent Huijsen off.

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