Real Madrid to Challenge Huijsen Red Card Amidst Renewed Refereeing Concerns

Real Madrid will appeal Dean Huijsen's controversial sending off in their 2-1 win at Real Sociedad on Saturday, a source has confirmed to ESPN.

Huijsen was shown a straight red card in the 32nd minute at the Reale Arena for a foul on Mikel Oyarzabal, with referee Jesus Gil's interpretation being that the forward was in on goal, and the centre-back was the last defender.

Madrid were already leading 1-0 thanks to Kylian Mbappé's early goal, and -- despite coming under pressure with 10 men -- went on to win 2-1 in San Sebastián to make it four wins out of four so far in LaLiga.

Speaking after the game, coach Xabi Alonso said Huijsen should have been shown a yellow card.

"[Eder] Militao was close. The ball wasn't under control. There were still 40 metres to go," Alonso told post-match news conference. "That's my interpretation, the referee had another, and the VAR had another. I asked for an explanation and it didn't convince me much."

A source told ESPN that Madrid would now appeal in a bid to have Huijsen's dismissal overturned, and thus avoid a suspension, with another centre-back -- Antonio Rüdiger -- already out for up to 12 weeks with a muscular injury.

The club's in-house TV channel, Real Madrid TV, announced after the game on Saturday that Madrid were "compiling a dossier" of refereeing decisions over the last year, which they would be sending to FIFA so that world football's governing body "would take note of what's happening in Spain."

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Madrid have been long-term, frequent critics of refereeing standards in LaLiga, with Real Madrid TV broadcasting videos of alleged refereeing mistakes before and after matches, and president Florentino Perez calling for radical reform.

This summer, the Spanish football federation made sweeping changes at its refereeing committee, the CTA -- including a new president, and head of VAR -- in an effort to deal with some of that criticism.

The CTA has also begun releasing a weekly video analysis of controversial refereeing decisions -- with incidents selected by a panel of former coaches -- in some cases, acknowledging errors.