Spanish Supercup Final referees: “We want to go unnoticed”

Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea will be the man in charge of Sunday’s El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the Spanish Supercup Final. De Burgos talked to the press ahead of the game and shared his thoughts and goals for the match.

“We know how these games are, we have to focus and forget about the criticism and being in the spotlight. We have to be up to the task in those 50-50 plays and do the best job we can. You want the game to flow naturally so that it goes as we want it to go. We want our calls to be clear so that there’s no controversy. We want to go unnoticed and that’s the best thing that can happen to us,” he said.

Naturally, the reporters asked him about the handballs.

“Yes, I know this would came up. The criteria is obvious but it’s impossible to find two equal plays. Once the play happens, we have to make a decision. We know how to do it but there are very difficult situations to judge. We have to make a decision, some fans will like it and some others won’t. We know what to do,” he explained.

This will only be the second El Clasico for De Burgos, who was the referee of a controversial 2017 El Clasico when he sent Cristiano Ronaldo off for diving inside Barcelona’s box.