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The stage is all set for a fitting finale in the Spanish domestic cup: Copa Del Rey on 26th April as the age-old rivalry is set to reignite in Spain. FC Barcelona and Real Madrid will take on each other in this heated cup final and the tempers have already started to rise with certain off-field incidents. A video outlet called RMTV, released a video on Thursday, April 24, targeting the seemingly biased decisions of the upcoming match’s referee Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea. The reaction to this was De Burgos breaking down into tears for the allegations made on him by Real Madrid’s video outlet.
There has always been scrutiny of referring decisions in Spanish football in recent times and this video seems to make matters worse. Speaking to the press Ricardo said, “When a son of yours goes to school and they tell him that his father is a 'thief' and he comes home crying, it's very messed up. What I do is try to educate my son to tell him that his father is honest”, replying to the allegations thrown upon him through the medium of that video on RMTV. However, Real Madrid officials are now even more upset over the referee’s reaction on the whole matter and have demanded a change in referee for the Cup final.
I don’t think that’s right: Hansi Flick speaks about pressure on referees from Real Madrid
It is being reported that Real Madrid are set to cancel their final open training session, press conference and team dinner, which was scheduled for tonight; a day before the final. They have also made a request for the change of officials for the match which has supposedly been denied by the Spanish Federation.
Following this entire debacle about referees and the video released by RMTV, Barcelona coach Hansi Flick was also asked about the same in his pre-match conference to which he replied by saying, “Real Madrid pressure on referees? I don't know what to say. For me, this is sport. It's a game, football, nothing more. I don't think that's right.” It will be interesting to see what further developments occur in the build-up to this massive clash.
