We’d suggest you send an apology to your family, friends, and all of your loved ones right away. Why? That’s because today, we expect your night to be occupied by the greatest rivalry in the history of the beautiful game between the greatest clubs in the world. FC Barcelona will be locking horns against Real Madrid in a much-awaited El Clasico. With just hours remain until kick-off, a question looms who has been the officiating duties for tonight’s game.

This clash is no less than the FIFA World Cup final of the domestic world. Hence, a choice of referees from the Spanish referee is expected to be a solid one. Starting off with the man who’ll be accompanying all the 22 players on the pitch is none other than José María Sánchez. Meanwhile, the man who’ll be watching the game from the video assistant referee (VAR) room will be Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz.

Speaking of José María Sánchez, the 41-year-old has a first hand in officiating high-profile games, having worked not just on the international front, but also referred six El Clasico matches in the past. Both Barcelona and Real Madrid have secured three victories each under Sanchez.

The first time he managed the RMA-BAR game was back in 2017, during the return leg of the 2017 Spanish Super Cup, where Los Blancos clinched a 2-0. The following three games concluded in favor of the Catalans, including a 0-3 win in 2017/18 La Liga, a 5-1 win, and a 0-3 win in the 2018/19 La Liga and return leg of the Copa Del Rey respectively. At last, the white side won the final two, a 1-2 win in the 21-22 season and a 3-1 win in the 22-23 season.

It would be interesting to see how the result will go for either side under Sanchez’s 7th El Clasico in charge. While that’s something time will tell, either party isn’t completely satisfied with the officials for the reasons you would surely like to hear.

Real Madrid and FC Barcelona express issues regarding referees prior El Clasico showdown

Starting with the home side, Real Madrid isn’t too fond of Jose Maria Sánchez Martínez, specifically, the club’s television channel, Real Madrid TV. During last season’s Madrid derby, the club raised questions at his refereeing, insisting they were denied three penalties. Om top of that, they even made comments like “Will he be able to sleep tonight?” and “Real Madrid is still top of the table despite the refereeing.”

Meanwhile, FC Barcelona is rather displeased with their arch-rivals over releasing an infamous video of criticizing Martinez. It basically shows all the errors of the 41-year-old on the club’s television. This didn’t settle in the eyes of Hansi Flick, who expressed his disappointment in the pre-match presser saying, “I didn’t know about the Real Madrid TV videos. It’s not right that this is happening.”

Regardless, the only thing we can hope is that nothing controversial transpires under José María Sánchez.