The referee who sent off Cristiano Ronaldo last Sunday for Real Madrid against Athletic Bilbao has been banned for a month, according to a Spanish radio station.Cadena Cope report that Miguel Angel Ayza Gamez has been punished following his performance in the match which ended 1-1 between the sides at San Mames.The decision from the Spanish League\'s Refereeing Technical Committee (CTA) to drop Gamez has also seen the referee barred from taking charge of Madrid matches for the rest of the campaign.Ronaldo was dismissed for raising a hand to Bilbao captain Carlos Gurpegi, while he also confronted Ander Iturraspe.Ronaldo\'s appeal against the three-match ban imposed has been rejected, but Madrid are set to take the case still further by petitioning a Spanish government body to get the punishment overturned.

I do not think this referee deserved ban for a month . The one in Real Sociedad match deserved it but this one should not have . Just reducing Ronaldo\'s ban was enough . Ronaldo did put his hands on the players face , if it is not red then it is yellow for sure .

Again , Good news in my opinion . Referees should get bans for balatant mistakes but not this one .

only in spain... never heard of a ref getting banned over one bad match.
it's also ridiculous that he is excluded from Madrid's matches like
wtf? Every club has a reason to complain about a ref every now and then because they feel like they were treated badly. This smells like favouritism towards Madrid imo.

Christ, Madrid's appeal power has some hell of an influence.

He made many mistakes in the Bilbao-Madrid match. Its more than Ronaldo's incident.

And after that, who is going to whistle agaisnt a Real Madrid player. Trying to reduce Ronaldos ban is a thing, complaining to ban the ref is silly. Refs will think twice when they whistle against RM...

@tiki

Spot on . I did not look at it that way . This will certainly make referees more aware next time they whistle against Madrid.

Referees do make huge impacts when they make wrong call and that should be sorted out . Wether making refs to pay more careful attention or apply video technologies to help them make decisions on complicated calls . While there was argument , 4th official could have quickly look up what happened . They should make this legal .

FIFA did use video replay technology right during the match while there was a fight to give Zidane red card which was that time illegal and still illegal . So why double standards ?

@ tiki, That's exactly the point. Doesn't smell good, this.

@Tiki and Marcus ya true, refs will be very cautious before giving RM players a card, this banning should have not happened and that too for a month..

1 MONTH!?

damn tiki is right

God, how I wish to have more referees like this one.

Pierluigi Collina - Best referee ever ! Everyone knew his name ! I did not know a single referee name but his was just as famous as any top footballer during that time .