Mateu Lahoz, about the Clasico referee: “He is at the highest level, but lately…”
José María Sánchez Martínez (on the grass) and Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz (in the VAR) will be in charge of refereeing the most outstanding match of matchday 11 in LaLiga: The Classic. Real Madrid and Barcelona meet for the first time this season in a match that will be crucial to know if Barça takes a breath in the standings or if Real Madrid hunts them down.
It will be the seventh classic refereed by the Murcian referee. So far, three victories for Real Madrid and three for Barcelona equalize a balance that will unbalance on Saturday.
Mateu Lahoz (left) and Sánchez Martínez (right).
Former referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz spoke to MARCA about his appointment: “In terms of styles, it may be the most contrary to what I understand about arbitration.. He is possibly the most Spanish, as the Technical Committee of Referees wants to call him, in terms of orthodox, authority… And he has his own, very defined style.. He had a somewhat special game with Athletic Club de Bilbao, which I think helped him. He is a referee with full guarantees and only from experience do I allow myself the luxury of saying that in the last year I have seen him hesitant, I have seen that in some way he is not putting emphasis on all his strengths and I invite him to continue being the the same as it has been, because thanks to that it has gone through all the categories and has reached an incredible level. It is at the highest level. He has even been on the verge of going to the Euro Cup, he was just on the verge of it and he has a great level. “I would like to see him again with confidence,” he explained.
