The choice of the Spanish League to rule the Clasico match between Real Madrid and Barcelona raises a big debate each year, no less than the news of stars before the confrontation, because of the long history of controversial decisions and events in the big meeting each year.
The Spanish league named referee Jose Maria Sanchez Martinez to lead the match on Sunday night at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona.
The club's fans may have been optimistic about Martinez, who led the Clasico last season when Real Madrid suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat at home to Barcelona.
On Sunday, Clasico will witness the use of the VAR video technology for the first time in the two teams' confrontations, which could reduce controversial refereeing decisions.
Ironically, Alejandro Jose Hernández was in charge of the video technique during the meeting, the same referee who had run the club's second division last season, and sparked a big debate by expelling Barcelona player Sergio Roberto and then being considered a "controversial" goal for Barcelona.
Barcelona managed to win 75 per cent of the games run by Martinez, while Real Madrid won 62 per cent of the meetings they had just run, which could make them the "face of the Saad" of the Catalan team.
Barcelona were defeated only once under the management of Martinez, was in front of Real Madrid in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup.
