Football – Real Madrid accused the match referees of having “animosity and hostility” to the club and called on the Spanish FA to take action as preparations for the Copa del Rey final against rivals Barcelona were thrown into turmoil yesterday.
Real boycotted pre-match activities ahead of today’s final after the match referee gave an emotional Press conference in which he called out the club for criticising the official on their in-house TV channel.
A club source told Reuters that the decision was taken to pull out of their pre-match obligations due to Real’s “unprecedented astonishment” at the Press conference given by referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea earlier yesterday. The referee had broken down in tears while responding to a critical video published by RMTV.
The source said Real saw the Press conference as “a clear conflict of interest” and, while they have not asked the Spanish FA to replace the officials, they believe the refereeing team should be changed.
Real issued a statement later yesterday in which they defended RMTV as “protected by freedom of expression” and said the match referees had a “clear and manifest animosity and hostility ... against Real Madrid”.
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