Possible referees for El Clasico

[Wolfe]

defensacentral.com, football-lineups.com


We already know the date for El Clasico at Santiago Bernabeu for the autumn term. It is time to start speculating who will be the official for the game. According to sport.es there are three candidates who are in consideration for refereeing of this game. These three include Cesar Muniz Fernandez (left), Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz (middle) and Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez (right). Whether it's one of these three or totally someone else we will know in the near future.

Muniz Fernandez stats:
- FC Barcelona - 14 wins, 5 draws, 2 losses (Valencia in 2003, Sevilla in 2010 Super Copa)
- Real Madrid - 17 wins, 5 draws, 3 losses (Sevilla in 2006, Deportivo in 2008, Osasuna in 2011)
- El Clasico history - 2 draws, both 1-1, first in 2003 at Santiago, second this past spring in 2011 at Santiago

Note: non-Clasico stats date back to 2004 only

Mateu Lahoz stats:
- FC Barcelona - 4 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses
- Real Madrid - 10 wins, 1 draw, 0 losses
He is yet to referee the El Clasico and he has only started refereeing Primera Division in 2008.

Iturralde Gonzalez stats:
- FC Barcelona - 14 wins, 4 draws, 4 losses (Racing in 2004, Valencia in 2007, Mallorca in 2009, Atletico in 2010)
- Real Madrid - 15 wins, 1 draw, 7 losses (Mallorca in 2004 and 2006, Valencia and Sevilla in 2009)
- El Clasico history - FC Barcelona won all three Clasico he refereed, 3-0 in 1999, 0-3 in 2005, 5-0 in 2010

Note: non-Clasico stats date back to 2003 only

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God please let it not be this headless chicken Iturralde who is simply too good of a karma for Barca..

[barcetia]

As long as it is not Undiano Mallenco or Vitenes I am happy.

[estranged]

wolfgang stark or ovrebo please

[xaviniesta]

mateu lahoz is still a category 2 referee. he is the funnyiest referee i know (besides olegario). every time i see him i have a smile on my face he seems to me a little like a bohemian at times. i like referees who smiles a lot. he's also probably the only ref who's got praise from both real madrid (mourihno) "I would still like to see Mateu Lahoz in every game. Maybe he made a mistake with the red card or the possible penalty," Mourinho said. "He's a great referee with a philosophy that I like very much, and has a great success rate in matches."
and barcelona (pique):
"People talk a lot about Mateu Lahoz and I think he’s a good referee, with an English refereeing style. It’s alright to whistle fouls when necessary, but the spectacle improves if the referee doesn’t stop the game for every little thing."
catalunya radio already claims that he will whistle the game.



muniz and iturralde are far more experienced but they already whistled the last two league clasicos.


i would pick muniz fernandez still.

[mitkoa7x]

Iturralde Gonzalez please

[xaviniesta]

wolfgang stark or ovrebo please

stark will whistle ac milan - barcelona on wednesday

[Jonathan28]

Iturralde Gonzalez Please

[abual3bed1]

As long as it is not Undiano Mallenco or Vitenes I am happy.

Undiano Mallenco was there when Barca won 3-0 at Camp Nou in 2004 (Eto'o - Gio - Ronnie) .. and he whistled on the historic 2-6 Clasico ..

[Deco 20]

Both Iturralde and Muniz Fernandez are bad... they're not Mallenco, but they're bad

[woobie]

I like Iturralde.

[10Rivaldo]

Iturralde was the referee for la Manita right?

[woobie]

Yup.

[Thierry]

wolfgang stark or ovrebo please

Please Heelll....Noh>!!

[afootballblog]

Don't know where to post this, but any news on whether Pique's yellow was seen as deliberate? Will he be missing Clasico too?

[No Soy Galáctico]

Refs get slated regardless to their performance at a Clasico. Now we wouldn’t want to ruin Lahoz’s rise in reputation just yet would we. Let the guy enjoy the fruits of his labour. But not yet. I assume it will be Gonzalez considering he’s had a season off of Clasicos.