Who: Real Madrid vs BarcelonaWhat: Spanish Copa del ReyWhere: La Cartuja stadium, Seville, SpainWhen: Saturday at 10pm local time (20:00 GMT)Follow Al Jazeera Sport’s live text and photo commentary stream.
Real Madrid boycotted pre-match activities before their Copa del Rey final against rivals Barcelona after the match referee gave an emotional news conference in which he called out Real for criticising the official on their in-house TV channel.
Real said the complaints by Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea, which were echoed by the VAR referee appointed to the final, against pressure from the club’s television channel were “unacceptable”.
The Spanish champions boycotted the news conference, the open training in front of the media, the traditional presidents’ dinner and a pre-match photo-call.
“These statements … made in a premeditated manner 24 hours earlier against one of the participants in the final, demonstrate, once again, a clear and manifest animosity and hostility of these referees towards Real Madrid,” the Madrid club said on the eve of Saturday’s cup final in Seville. Advertisement
A source close to the news agency Reuters said Real saw the news conference as “a clear conflict of interest” and, while they have not asked the Spanish FA (RFEF) to replace the officials, they believe the refereeing team should be changed.
RFEF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The empty news conference tribune is seen as Real Madrid decides not to attend a news conference at La Cartuja stadium [Cristina Quicler/AFP]
Preparations for the final were thrown into chaos when match referee De Burgos gave a news conference in which he cried as he responded to the RMTV video.
The video, released on Thursday, shows what RMTV says is a series …
