Toni Kroos acknowledged the decision with a smile, briefly waved it off, but ultimately had to realize that he had cleared his opponent from behind. The yellow-red card that the former German international saw in the 1-1 (0-0) win over FC Girona was the first in his career.

Kroos has never been sent off in the 15 years since his professional debut in September 2007 (for FC Bayern) and has not been sent off in over 600 games. Now, in the 55th minute, he first fouled Yan Couto with a long leg in midfield, then stopped a counterattack in added time by tackling Aleix Garcia. Two yellow-worthy offenses made a total of yellow-red.

His team could no longer prevent the loss of points outnumbered and in over nine minutes of injury time. FC Barcelona’s 1-0 (0-0) the day before, Robert Lewandowski scored the decisive goal at FC Valencia (90.3), reduced Real’s lead in the table to one point.

After aluminum hits on both sides, Vinicius Junior initially put the hosts in the lead (70th). Girona’s resistance seemed broken, but the team of referees led by Mario Melero Lopez brought the basement child back into the game. Marco Asensio jumped the ball from his own chest to his arm in his own penalty area. After the video assistant intervened and studied the images, the referee decided on a penalty. A questionable decision.

“That was the definition of no handball like they explained to us at the start of the season. Unbelievable that it was punished today,” asensio wrote on Twitter about the scene. Coach Carlo Ancelotti also criticized the decision: “The situation is clear. It’s not a penalty because the ball hits the chest.” Christhian Stuani converted to equalize and make the final score (80′).