As the highly anticipated Real Madrid vs. Atletico Madrid clash approaches, the Colchoneros have sparked controversy with a provocative social media post. Through their official X account, Atletico Madrid reached out to the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) for definitions of terms such as "press," "intimidate," "coerce," "influence," and "threaten"—a clear jab at Real Madrid following their recent official complaint about refereeing decisions.

A Message with a Clear Target

The Atletico post read:
"Dear friends at @RAEinforma, we've been asked about this a lot lately, and we don’t want to get it wrong. Could you help us with the nuances of the following verbs? Press, intimidate, coerce, threaten, influence, impose. Thank you."

Though Los Rojiblancos never explicitly mentioned Real Madrid, the timing and wording of the post strongly suggest it was directed at their city rivals. Just days earlier, Real Madrid submitted a formal complaint to the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the Spanish Higher Sports Council (CSD), denouncing what they called "scandalous refereeing" in their 1-0 loss to Espanyol.

In their statement, Los Blancos highlighted what they believed were two major refereeing injustices:

• A dangerous tackle on Kylian Mbappé that was not given a red card.
• A Vinícius Jr. goal disallowed due to an alleged foul by the Brazilian forward.

The RAE's Response and Word Interpretations

Following Atletico's post, the RAE's official definitions of the terms provided even more fuel to the debate:

• Press: To exert pressure on someone or something.
• Intimidate: To cause or instill fear, inhibit.
• Coerce: To exert coercion over someone.
• Threaten: To cause fear in someone.
• Influence: To exert dominance or moral force.
• Impose: To place a burden, obligation, or other requirement.

The subtle yet pointed post was widely interpreted as a dig at Real Madrid, insinuating that Los Blancos were attempting to pressure referees ahead of the crucial Madrid Derby on Saturday, February 3, at the Santiago Bernabéu.