Real Madrid's media strategy has a key mouthpiece in Real Madrid TV, the club's official channel that spreads the narrative promoted by Florentino Pérez. For years, its editorial line has been clear: reinforce the idea that referees harm Real Madrid and favor FC Barcelona.
This is a narrative that doesn't allow for nuances and seeks to shape public opinion before and after every match.
However, what few expected was that a footballer from the club's own locker room would break with such a well-established script. Not just any player, but the team's captain, the man who represents the era of the six Champions like no one else.
Dani Carvajal has decided to go his own way, disconnecting from Real Madrid TV's frequency. Making those in charge of the club's communications nervous.
Real Madrid TV's manual
The editorial line of the white channel is easily recognizable. Every match is refereed before it's played in the studios.
Any action in Barça's box must be interpreted as a penalty. In Madrid's box, never. The plays in the opposite boxes follow the same rule, but in reverse.
To justify this view, the channel doesn't hesitate to resort time and again to the "Negreira wildcard." The former vice president of the CTA no longer has any role in Spanish soccer.
But Real Madrid TV insists on presenting him as the shadow that decides Barça's victories and Madrid's defeats. The reality, no matter how uncomfortable it may be, must never alter the script.
Carvajal breaks the official discourse
In this context, Carvajal's words sounded like thunder. The captain admitted that, in his opinion, Alejandro Balde's penalty at Levante's stadium shouldn't have been called.
He also stated that he would've disallowed Arda Güler's goal for handling the ball. Two statements that instantly dismantle the argument repeated every week by the official channel's commentators.
This isn't just any footballer questioning the narrative. This is the authorized voice of a European champion. Someone who should be the standard-bearer of the club's discourse and who, instead, swims against the current.
His stance puts both the club's communications managers and Florentino himself in an uncomfortable position.
The reaction hasn't taken long. The confusion is obvious. If the great captain distances himself from the official version, the communication strategy loses strength.
Real Madrid TV's message, so calculated and repeated, finds an obstacle in its own locker room.
The question now is whether Carvajal will keep this independence of judgment or if he'll be pressured to align his statements with the club's script. What is certain is that he has made it clear he doesn't intend to follow the imposed script and that his voice, due to its weight and track record, could prove much more influential than any television debate.