The Referees Committee of the Spanish Football Federation has confirmed that referee Jose Maria Sanchez Martinez will be in charge of the first ‘Clasico’ of the season, which will take place on Saturday 26th October at 21:00 CET.
Although some media had already leaked it, the RFEF confirmed on Thursday morning that the referee for this weekend’s ‘El Clasico’ between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium will be Jose Maria Sanchez Martinez. Alejandro Muniz Ruiz will be in charge of the VAR; Raul Cabanero Martinez and Juan Jose Lopez Mir, the flag officials; Jorge Diaz Escudero, the fourth official; Pablo Gonzalez Fuertes, the assistance in the VOR room, and Bernardino Gonzalez Vazquez, the reporting officer.
The main responsible for the decisions that will be taken at the Santiago Bernabeu has been in charge of 29 ‘Merengues’ matches and 26 ‘Cules’ matches throughout his career. They are the two clubs that have seen him take the pitch with them the most times. ‘Los Blancos’ have won 65.5% of their matches with him, lost 10.3% and drawn 24.1%. Those figures are 76.9%, 15.4% and 7.7% respectively for the ‘Azulgranas’.
His most recent performances were in Getafe 1-1 Osasuna in La Liga, Borussia Dortmund 7-1 Celtic in the Champions League and Las Palmas 1-1 Real Betis in the domestic league. On the international stage, he also took responsibility for the Ireland-England match in early September that caused so much controversy because the interim coach of the Three Lions did not sing ‘God save the king’.
Sánchez Martínez will be in the spotlight, but he is not the only referee who already knows in which game he will be taking the field this weekend. Other important matches will be between Getafe and Valencia -Guillermo Cuadra Fernandez- Real Betis and Atletico Madrid -Jesus Gil Manzano- or between Real Sociedad and Osasuna -Juan Luis Pulido Santana-.
