Who is the referee for Barcelona - Atlético Madrid in LaLiga?

FC Barcelona host Atlético Madrid at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, also known as Montjuïc, in LaLiga EA Sports on Sunday 3 December (KO 3pm ET, noon PT).

The game has plenty riding on it: a win for Xavi and Barcelona may just move one step further away from the edge of the abyss that has seemed to circle their entire season; three points for Los Rojiblancos would see them push away from Barça and keep the pressure on two top two.

Barcelona - Atletico Madrid: Follow the live action here!

The game is set to be tense and is already full of storylines to keep up the, here it comes, narratives: João Félix back to Atleti, Griezmann back to Barça, Atlético without an away win against Barcelona in pretty much twenty years, Xavi’s position wobbling...

Who is the referee for Barcelona - Atlético Madrid?

The lucky human being in control of the whistle for the game is José María Sánchez Martínez. You probably recognise his face before, and that’s because Sánchez Martínez has been a LaLiga referee since 2015. The referee, born in Spain’s south-east province of Murcia, a place which has an incredibly small airport, has overseen games all across the continent in the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.

After four seasons of Segunda División games, he moved up to the top tier and has since taken charge of 167 LaLiga games, showing 923 yellow and handing out 19 straight reds.

What is José María Sánchez Martínez’s record in LaLiga?

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In 7 LaLiga games this season, the referee has given two penalties and two red cards. In those games, he’s given out 35 yellows, which averages out at 5 per game. He’s also never sent off a player from either Barcelona or Atlético Madrid.

Alejandro Hernández Hernández will be the lucky soul in charge of what goes on in the VAR room. Let’s hope he doesn’t have much to do with the action at Montjuïc.