REAL MADRID and Barcelona get unfair favouritism from officials in LaLiga, claims former referee Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, who was a ref at over 300 league games in Spain, claims 90 per cent of whistlers are biased towards Los Blancos – with the other ten per cent favouring Barca.
Atletico Madrid’s Diego Costa is sent off against Barcelona last seasonCredit: Reuters
The Spaniard, who was a top flight referee in LaLiga until retiring in 2012, believes the bias is because so many people in the country grow up as Madrid fans.
He told Cadena Ser via ESPN: “Around 90 per cent go with Real and ten per cent with Barcelona. Whether Barca fans like it or not, 70 per cent of the Spanish population, excluding Catalonia, are Real Madrid supporters.
“There are more Barca fans these days because the younger generation has seen the trophies they won under Pep Guardiola.
“But before the ‘Lionel Messi era,’ how many people supported Madrid in Spain? About 70 per cent?
“Personally, I don’t care about one or the other. I’m Athletic Bilbao. Everyone knows that I am Athletic, but I would go against them to try and be fair.
“I’m lucky to have been born in Bilbao. Everyone is Athletic there.
“But in the rest of Spain, the majority are Real Madrid of Barcelona fans, because they’re the teams that win.
“And that’s how it is. And the majority are Real Madrid.”
It is a far cry from the Premier League where chiefs go out of their way to switch a whistler from another game even if he lives NEAR a particular club.
Spurs boss Jose Mourinho is one example of a manager who has expressed fears that particular referees are biased towards certain clubs.
He claimed Neale Barry favoured Manchester United when he was Chelsea boss back in 2015.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
