One of the assistant referees officiating in the El Clasico match on the first week of December has been suspended for two weeks for allegedly being too friendly with the players of Barcelona. The referee in question was Pau Norbert Cebrian Devis, who was punished after the Real Madrid players were not happy with his actions during the game.
According to the Mirror, Devis has not been assigned to any game this week and is set to miss out on the next game week as well. Apparently, the refereeing committee have disapproved of his actions over the course of the blockbuster match.
The El Clasico is a high octane fixture featuring two of the world’s greatest clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona. After the La Liga fixture on December 3, 2016 at the Nou Camp, it was reported that some of the Madrid players were furious with the referee’s decisions.
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According to Spanish radio station Cadena SER, the refereeing committee reported that Devis was astonishingly very amicable and friendly with some of the Barcelona players in the tunnel by the dressing rooms.
The Madrid players expressed their angst openly at some of the decisions made by referee Carlos Clos Gomez and his team during the course of the game. Some of the surprising decisions included Javier Mascherano’s foul on Lucas Vasquez which was ignored by the referee, Luis Suarez’s opening goal which appeared to be off-side but was not given and Cristiano Ronaldo not being awarded a penalty after being pulled back in the area.
Also read: Twitter reacts to Sergio Ramos grabbing a late draw for Real Madrid against Barcelona
Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos had said after the game, "The referee at Camp Nou? I could say a lot of things after watching the game back a couple of times, but it wouldn't change anything. I'm going to keep out of it because I don't want to give headlines.
"I have a lot of respect for the referees, they're people and they can make mistakes. I find it difficult to believe that they make mistakes [on purpose]. Continuing the stirring is not going to lead anywhere now."
The match ended in a draw with Ramos equalising with a late header.
