The refereeing committee of the Spanish Football Federation have appointed Mateu Busquets Ferrer to officiate tomorrow's La Liga clash between Real Madrid and Real Sociedad.
The choice comes just months after Busquets Ferrer took charge of Real Madrid's meeting with Atletico Madrid in the 2026 Spanish Super Cup semi-final, a match that produced one of the tournament's most controversial refereeing incidents.
He awarded Real Madrid a foul after Jude Bellingham went down following a collision with Conor Gallagher in the opening minutes. Federico Valverde then curled the resulting free-kick into a stunning goal to put Los Blancos ahead.
The decision drew objections from Atletico Madrid, who felt Gallagher had done nothing to warrant the free-kick. Former Spanish referee Iturralde Gonzalez backed that view, confirming on "Cadena SER" that "there is no foul" in the play.
That was not the end of it. Atletico later demanded a penalty when Giuliano Simeone went down inside the box after a collision with Eduardo Camavinga, but Busquets Ferrer waved play on.
You can discuss topics and news in greater depth in the "Kooora" forums
His display also came under fire from refereeing and media circles. The "Archivo VAR" website handed Busquets Ferrer a poor rating of 3 out of 10, slamming his management of the game and his handling of certain fouls and cards.
Not everyone agreed. In its own analysis, "AS" argued that Real Madrid had no cause for complaint, since several of his calls worked in their favour, among them the foul that led to Valverde's goal.
Sharper still was the verdict of "El Nacional", which spoke of "refereeing controversy" and bias towards Real Madrid, dismissing the foul before Valverde's goal as non-existent and taking aim at other decisions from Busquets Ferrer during the game.
Now the Spanish official returns for Real Madrid against Real Sociedad. All eyes will be on how he handles it, after the incident that made his name a regular in refereeing debate following the recent Madrid derby.