Muñiz Fernández Leaves Medina Cantalejo Reeling, Confession About the Final's Referee

The 24/25 Copa del Rey Final is more filled with controversy than ever. What seemed like a relatively calm Clásico has turned into a truly tense match due to the statements of the referees appointed for that game at La Cartuja.

On the eve of the clash, Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea and Pablo González Fuertes spoke to the media and provoked the anger of Real Madrid, which issued two official statements. But these words at the press conference by Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea are not the only reason that focuses the discussion on the appointment by the Technical Committee of Referees.

The former referee Mateu Lahoz already brought to the table several weeks ago, on Cadena COPE, the internal debates experienced in the CTA regarding that important and striking decision. According to the former Valencian referee, César Soto Grado was initially chosen to lead this match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. But "it's possible that Soto himself has been involved in these meetings to promote David Fernández Borbalán and Roberto Alonso Fernández", noted Mateu Lahoz on the episcopal station.

Those conversations of Soto Grado, which would have the objective of replacing Medina Cantalejo at the head of the CTA, did not please the former Andalusian referee too much. Thus, Mateu Lahoz then commented that "now he bets on de Burgos Bengoetxea", finally chosen to administer justice in the Clásico at La Cartuja.

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Those same words have come from another former Spanish referee. César Muñiz Fernández, a referee from the Asturian school active between 2000 and 2014, recalls that Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea was a last-minute choice. "In theory, the final was for Soto Grado", warns the former referee born in Brussels.

Again, another former referee from our country points out the change forged in the referee appointment for the Copa del Rey final. Muñiz Fernández recalls that "Medina Cantalejo finds out that Soto Grado is in the candidacy of a rival to preside over the CTA", so he would have decided to 'take away' the final. The words of the former Gijón referee thus reveal the process by which the referee for the Copa del Rey final would have been chosen.

They have not been the only comments that César Muñiz Fernández has made about this CTA choice. In his words for Onda Cero, the former referee condemned de Burgos Bengoetxea for his tears live: "a top-level referee has to be prepared for that". According to this former referee, "these are things you have to assume, it's sad but you can't show that emotional weakness before a Copa final".

He also recalls that "what happened to him today has happened to all of us referees. I think it wasn't the time to cry and express that emotion", concludes César Muñiz Fernández about the referee chosen by the CTA to officiate the Copa del Rey final.