Referee César Soto personally requested to officiate Real Madrid vs Barcelona | OneFootball

An interesting development in the ongoing fallout from last night’s showdown between Real Madrid and Barcelona has today been revealed online.

The info comes courtesy of Mundo Deportivo, and confirms that referee César Soto personally asked to be allowed to oversee the season’s final Clásico fixture.

Real and Barca renewed rivalries a little over 24 hours ago, with the former having ultimately emerged on the right side of a 3-2 result.

Their victory, however, did not come without its controversies, with Barcelona having today gone as far as to release a public statement, condemning the many decisions which they feel went against them over the course of the 90 minutes at the Santiago Bernabéu.

All of a Blaugrana persuasion will therefore no doubt be interested to hear that the man in charge on Sunday night personally sought out the fixture as one which he wanted to take charge of.

As per the aforementioned MD:

‘in the run-up to the Clásico of the Spanish Super Cup played in January in Saudi Arabia, where he was responsible for the VAR, César Soto publicly asked to referee the Clásico.’

Unfortunately for the official, though his wish was granted, he was not able to make it through his first Real Madrid vs Barcelona showdown without controversy.

The Technical Committee of Referees, though, are understood to have been largely satisfied with Soto’s performance.

Conor Laird | GSFN