#4 Their 12th man: the Spanish press
The biased support by the Spanish press (read MARCA and AS) towards Madrid is just another thing that infuriates football fans. Every 50-50 decision that goes against the club makes the next morning’s headlines, every wrong move by a player of a rival club is blasted by the press.
One might argue that this is very much expected of a club of Real Madrid’s stature and it doesn’t influence the game directly. But one thing that it does is put pressure on the opposition and the match officials.
The performance of match officials when things go against the Los Blancos are criticised unfairly by these newspapers, who are supposed to present the news in a neutral and objective way. The ‘Real Madrid press’ also use their medium to pressurise clubs to sell their players to Real Madrid by publishing unverified rumours about a player’s transfer to Madrid.
There have also been instances when the Real Madrid hierarchy use the press to their advantage to push their agenda, which has incurred the wrath of football lovers.
