Barcelona vs Real Madrid: who is the referee for El Clásico?

Barcelona and Real Madrid go head-to-head at the Estadio Lluís Companys on Saturday for the first Clásico of the season. The referee in charge of the match will be Jesús Gil Manzano from Extremadura, according to the RFEF. Cuadra Fernández will be in the VAR room as the two biggest clubs in Spain face off.

Gil Manzano in Clásicos

In the previous Clásicos that Gil Manzano has refereed in LaLiga, Real Madrid have won both. The first was a 3-1 win for Los Blancos in the 2014-15 season, with goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe and Karim Benzema, while Neymar netted for the Blaugrana. The last Clásico he refereed finished 2-1, in the 2020-21 season, with goals from Benzema and Toni Kroos; Óscar Mingueza scored for Barça.

Real Madrid record

Gil Manzano has refereed 47 games involving Real Madrid, the team he has refereed the most, with 37 wins, five draws and five defeats for the Bernabéu outfit. Madrid have not lost with him in charge for two years. Their last defeat was in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey against Atlético Madrid in the 2021-22 season. Gil Manzano is also remembered for the three penalties he gave against Madrid at Mestalla in a Valencia-Real Madrid game in the 2020-21 season, which ended in a 4-1 win for Valencia, with a hat-trick of penalties for Spanish technician Carlos Soler.

Barcelona with Gil Manzano

The 39-year-old official has refereed 36 matches with Barcelona. The Catalans have 22 wins, seven draws and seven defeats from the 36 fixtures. He was the referee who sent off Robert Lewandowski against Osasuna last season, which cost the Polish forward a three-match ban, however, he has not yet refereed Barcelona this season. His last match with Xavi’s side was last season’s game against Rayo Vallecano, which ended in a 2-1 defeat for Barcelona.