Who is the referee for the Real Madrid vs Barcelona game of the Spanish Super Cup 2023 final?
Real Madrid and Barcelona will battle it out in the 39th edition of the Spanish Super Cup this evening in Riyadh. Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea will be making sure the game flows without incident.
The Spanish Super Cup celebrates its 39th edition today with the two clubs to have won the trophy the most times, Barcelona with 13 titles and Real Madrid with 12, both eyeing another piece of silverware for their collections. This will be the fourth time that the competition has been played under the new, four-team, round robin format - and the third time it has been held outside of Spain.
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Making sure the game ticks along without any major incident or controversy in Riyadh will be Spanish referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea. This will be the 36-year-old’s second Clásico - he whistled the first leg of the 2017 Spanish Super Cup at Camp Nou which Madrid won 1-3. But his performance will be remembered for sending off Cristiano for two bookable offences - the first, for taking off his shirt after scoring Madrid’s second goal on 80 minutes, then just two minutes later for simulation, going down a little too easily after a challenge by Umtiti. After seeing that his penalty appeal was turned down, the Madrid player threw his arms up in the air in disbelief, and was duly ordered off but shoved De Burgos Bengoetxea in the back before leaving the field. He was subsequently handed a five-match ban - one for being sent off (double yellow card) and four for attacking the referee.
Bilbao-born De Burgos Bengoetxea worked as a dental technician and began his refereeing career in 2009, overseeing matches in the Second Division B, the third tier of the Spanish league system. In his third season, he graduated to LaLiga 2, the second tier, overseeing 22 games in 2011/12 and 21 the following season. In 2015 he was selected to form part of the pool of match officials for LaLiga games, making his top flight debut in the opening day meeting between Levante and Celta but didn’t exactly endear himself to the home fans by sending centre-back Simão off after just five minutes.
That season he oversaw 19 LaLiga games and three Copa del Rey ties, including Real Madrid’s Fourth Round clash with Cádiz. In LaLiga he has been in charge of 141 games, in which he has issued 677 yellow cards and sent a total of 24 players off, including two from the same side in the same match (Málaga’s Diego Llorente and Junkar in the 2016/17 Week 12 meeting with Barcelona).
He has overseen 23 games involving Barcelona in LaLiga with a balance of 16 blaugrana wins, four draws and just three defeats. The most recent Barça defeat in match De Burgos Bengoetxea was in charge of was in May 2021 when they fell 1-2 to Celta at Camp Nou. This season, he has overseen just one Barcelona league game - the 4-0 win over Valladolid in Week 3.
Real Madrid come in seventh in the list of teams which the Bilbaíno has refereed during his career with a total of 18 games. In 14 of them, Real Madrid ended up with a win, three ended in a draw and only one defeat - a 2-1 defeat to Valencia at Mestalla five years ago. De Burgos Bengoetxea has not been selected for any Real Madrid games in LaLiga so far this season.
He will be accompanied by Roberto Díaz Pérez del Palomar and Jon Núñez Fernández as assistant referees with Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz as fourth referee and José Luis González González in the VAR Room. Santiago Jaime Latre will be at the AVAR controls.