The Negreira case and insults to Vinícius: a controversial past haunting the Clásico referee

According to the same report, Martínez Munuera's name surfaced in the Negreira investigation file after he used the mental coaching services of Javier Enríquez, Negreira's son, paying for them by bank transfer. His brother and assistant, Miguel Martínez Munuera, confirmed as much. The stated aim was to sharpen his concentration during matches.

Why has the matter caused such a stir? Javier Enríquez's father held the post of vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), and investigators were also examining the payments Barcelona made to entities linked to him.

That a referee had used these services raised questions about the relationships running through the refereeing system. Martínez Munuera defended his integrity publicly and insisted he had broken no law.

The payments alone prove nothing. They point to no favouritism towards Barcelona and no manipulation of results. Real Madrid, who joined the Negreira case to defend their own interests, argue that the credibility of refereeing demands full explanations and watertight transparency.

The dispute stays open. It poisons the atmosphere around any refereeing appointment of this magnitude.

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One incident above all others still rankles at Real Madrid when the subject of Martínez Munuera comes up. It dates back to the clash with Sevilla in May 2021. A single sequence ended with both the location of the foul and the beneficiary turned on their head. The referee first pointed to the spot for Karim Benzema, only for a review of an earlier Éder Militão handball to hand Sevilla a penalty instead. That 2-2 draw landed at a decisive stage in the La Liga title race.

Zinedine Zidane reacted with unusual fury. The coach demanded answers on the criteria used to judge handballs and made no attempt to hide his anger. The episode has stuck with Real Madrid supporters ever since, wheeled out whenever talk turns to how consistently the rules are applied.

March 2024 brought the most direct confrontation. Real Madrid lodged a complaint against Martínez Munuera with the disciplinary committee over the wording of his report on the match against Osasuna. The club accused the referee of leaving out the insults aimed at Vinícius, despite their players flagging them to him.

Their objection went beyond a single sporting call. It reached into the protection of the player and the proper documenting of what unfolded in the stands. The referees' technical committee rejected Real Madrid's version, insisting the audio recordings contained none of the alerts the club described.

The federation delegate's report, however, did log chants insulting the Brazilian. That contradiction sparked a fresh public row between the Spanish giants and the body in charge of refereeing.

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For Javier Iglesias Villanueva, the most notable previous incident came in February 2025, when Espanyol faced Real Madrid.

Carlos Romero caught Mbappé with a strong challenge from behind during that game, yet he escaped with only a yellow card. The video assistant referee never asked the referee to review the incident on the screen to decide whether it warranted a red.

Romero stayed on the pitch. He went on to score the only goal of the game.

Real Madrid lodged an official complaint and demanded the audio recordings of the incidents they felt had gone against them. The VAR room sat at the heart of the protest, even though its whole purpose is to correct serious refereeing errors.

That is the episode hanging over Javier Iglesias Villanueva's appointment. The decisions attributed to his brother Ignacio involve a different referee, the report notes, and offer no grounds for holding Javier responsible or assuming personal ties between them simply because they share a surname.

Martínez Munuera boasts a positive record with Real Madrid across the four previous Clásicos he has officiated. The Royal club won three of them, with Barcelona claiming a single victory.

Those matches include the 4-0 win in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final at the Camp Nou and the 4-1 triumph in the 2024 Spanish Super Cup final.

The report concluded: "Real Madrid wants the Clásico clash to be decided on the pitch. But it enters it burdened with numerous memories of matches that ended with it demanding explanations from the refereeing system."