Xabi Alonso questions referee after Huijsen red card in Real Madrid win

Xabi Alonso expressed his frustration with referee Jesús Gil Manzano after Real Madrid’s hard-fought 2-1 victory over Real Sociedad was overshadowed by the dismissal of Dean Huijsen.

Los Blancos returned to La Liga action with a trip to San Sebastián, where first-half goals from Kylian Mbappé and Arda Güler earned them a fourth successive league win of the 2025/26 campaign. However, controversy dominated proceedings at the Reale Arena.

Huijsen was shown a straight red card in the 32nd minute for a foul on Sociedad captain Mikel Oyarzabal. Manzano ruled that the young defender had denied a clear goalscoring opportunity as the last man, despite Madrid’s insistence that Éder Militão was in a covering position.

Reduced to 10 men for almost an hour, Madrid had to dig deep after Oyarzabal converted a second-half penalty to halve the deficit. Alonso’s side ultimately held firm to secure the three points, but the manager was left unconvinced by the referee’s decision.

Speaking post-match, Alonso told Marca:

“For me, it was a yellow card. Militão was close, and the ball was not under control. Watching the replay, my opinion has not changed.

“I asked the referee why he gave a red card. He gave me his explanation, but I wasn’t convinced. I’ll leave it at that.

“The context of the game changed completely after that, and we had to play with 10 men for 60 minutes. The players sacrificed themselves and showed great effort. Winning at Anoeta is always very difficult, and today it was even more so.”

Despite his protests, Alonso did not indicate that Real Madrid would appeal against the decision, meaning Huijsen is set to serve a one-match suspension and will miss the home fixture against Espanyol on 20 September.