All the matches that Fútbol Club Barcelona played between 2001 and 2018 are under suspicion due to the Negreira case. Between those years, the different directives of the Barcelona team would have paid to the ex-vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees. According to inquiries from ‘Football Leaks’, there would have been a hiatus between 2002 and 2005when Enric Reyna replaced Joan Gaspart, and during the first two years of Joan Laporta’s presidency.
This has made the preview of the game that Barcelona and Real Madrid play at the Camp Nou starting at 9:00 p.m., where Florentino Pérez will not be, as ‘El Mundo’ has announced. But, What happened to the ‘classics’ that were played during the 17 years that elapsed from the first to the last payment?
First of all, what Barcelona won three more duels: 18 versus 15, to which must be added a total of 12 draws. A total of 45 matches in which the Champions League playoffs from the 2001/2002 seasons are not taken into account and 2010/2011, since the appointments of these matches are under the authority of UEFA.
Undiano Mallenco, the referee who whistled the most ‘classics’
During the period in which the alleged suspension of payments to Enríquez Negreira occurred, the statistics are equal with two victories for each team and two draws. Returning to the total number of clashes in the analyzed period (2001-2018), the referee who directed the most ‘classics’ It was Undiano Mallenco from Navarra, with eight games of maximum rivalry assigned which resulted in five wins for Barca, including the resounding 2-6 win in LaLiga 2008/2009. Undiano is a current member of the CTA technical commission.
The following in the list would be the Cantabrian Alfonso Pérez Burrull, with four ‘classics’ directed during that time and one of those who has publicly raised his voice against Enríquez Negreira and in defense of arbitration fairness. The best historical sequence of Barcelona in the ‘classics’ begins in the 2008/2009 season, with the arrival of Pep Guardiola to the Camp Nou bench. Until 2011/2012, the last season of the current City manager at ‘Can Barça’, Real Madrid was not capable of winning again. Mourinho stormed the Camp Nou 1-2 on matchday 35.
Mourinho’s Madrid loaded with cards
Although in the number of victories (18-15) there is not a wide gap between Barcelona and Real Madrid during that time, the difference is wider in terms of cards received. Between 2001 and 2018, the culé squad received 139 for the 176 that the white players saw. The disparity in this section became great, precisely, during Mourinho’s stay at the Bernabéu, where a war of personalities began.
In the 2011/2012 campaign, in addition to the league ‘classics’, two were played in the Super Cup and others in the Copa del Rey. Barça saw 16 cards in this serial, while Real Madrid accumulated 30 cards. It is the widest difference between the two opponents. The current leader of LaLiga was penalized more in direct confrontations in the 2001/2002, 2002/2003, 2007/2008 and 2014/2015 seasons.
Sergio Ramos, the most ‘carded’ in the ‘classics’
The most ‘carded’ player in the ‘classics’ played at this time was Sergio Ramos, who saw a total of 21 cards, five of them red. At Barça, the leader in this statistic is Sergio Busquets, with 11 cards, one of them red. Another of the most commented points of friction after the journalistic revelations of a case that is in court were the penalties ordered against Barça.
The Catalans were not awarded a maximum penalty in 715 days: from February 14, 2016 to March 7, 2018, a period in which 21 were whistled in their favor. In the period between the first and the last payment to the former vice president of the arbitrators, sanctions were 14 shots from eleven meters: eight for Barça and six for Real Madrid.
According to information provided by the newspaper ‘El Mundo’, up to 12 of those ‘classics’ would be being analyzed by Anti-Corruption. The first was the one played in March 2014, the others in December 2016 and June 2018. Barça won five of these matches, Real Madrid another five and the other games ended in draws.
De Burgos Bengoetxea, referee of the ‘clásico’
Of those dozen parties, two coincide almost in time with the dates of admission to Negreira. More disparate, as in the entire series, was the difference between sanctions. Barça were awarded three penalties in the ‘classics’ investigated, while Real Madrid obtained two maximum penalties. In these matches there were seven expulsions, but six fell on the Madrid side, half to Sergio Ramos. Up to eight different referees exercised their work in the aforementioned matches.
The person in charge of imparting justice in the ‘classic’ this Sunday will be Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea, who directed a match between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the investigated period: the first leg of the Super Cup in the 2017/2018 season that Real Madrid won 3-1 at the Camp Nou.
That was a moved party. The Basque referee sent off Cristiano Ronaldo for a double yellow after considering a simulation in the area. The Portuguese gave him a shove in the back and he was banned for four games. Referee in Primera since 2015 and international since 2018 is one of the most valued by the current Technical Committee directed by Medina CantalejoHence his choice for a match where all eyes will be on the performance of the contest judge.
