A few hours before the highly anticipated clash of La Liga’s 23rd matchday between Real Madrid and their city rivals Atlético, the Spanish Federation has revealed the name of the match referee. For Vinicius Junior, it’s a man with whom things turned sour earlier this year.
Currently, there is an open war between Spanish referees and Real Madrid. For days, Florentino Pérez’s club has been taking action against the officials. Furious over the referee’s decisions during last weekend’s La Liga match against Espanyol Barcelona, the Madrid club is applying strong pressure on the institutions responsible for officiating in Spain, demanding “change.” While tensions have reached their peak, it’s worth noting that everything started earlier this year when Vinicius Junior received a red card against Valencia.
The CTA’s controversial choice for the Madrid derby
In charge of that delayed fixture, César Soto Grado missed several key moments. Even with VAR, the Spanish referee produced a controversial performance. Coincidentally, it is the same Soto Grado who has been appointed to officiate the Madrid derby. On Thursday, the Spanish refereeing committee officially announced the much-criticised official as the referee for the highly anticipated La Liga clash, set to take place at 8 PM (GMT).
For Vinicius Junior, who does not have fond memories of this referee, this is undoubtedly bad news. On Saturday, the player—who has been making headlines for months due to his explosive behaviour towards referees and even his own teammates, as seen in his clash with Luka Modric in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals—will have to mentally prepare himself to deliver a solid performance.
Against Atlético, who will surely do everything to make the match fiery at the Santiago Bernabéu, Vinicius Junior must keep his emotions in check. In any case, the entire Real Madrid squad will be hoping that the encounter unfolds smoothly. Given that this is a high-stakes match, with the winner gaining a significant advantage in the La Liga title race, refereeing will be a crucial factor. Hopefully, the ongoing conflict between referees and Florentino Pérez’s club will not escalate matters further.
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