{"id":10675,"date":"2025-04-25T22:01:53","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T22:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/copa-del-rey-final-real-madrid-vs-barcelona-los-blancos-boycott-build-up\/"},"modified":"2025-04-25T22:01:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T22:01:53","slug":"copa-del-rey-final-real-madrid-vs-barcelona-los-blancos-boycott-build-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/copa-del-rey-final-real-madrid-vs-barcelona-los-blancos-boycott-build-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Copa del Rey final: Real Madrid vs Barcelona \u2013 Los Blancos boycott build-up"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Who:<\/strong> Real Madrid vs Barcelona
\nWhat:<\/strong> Spanish Copa del Rey
\nWhere:<\/strong> La Cartuja stadium, Seville, Spain
\nWhen:<\/strong> Saturday at 10pm local time (20:00 GMT)<\/p>\n

Follow Al Jazeera Sport\u2019s live text and photo commentary stream.<\/em><\/p>\n

Real Madrid boycotted pre-match activities before their Copa del Rey final against rivals Barcelona after the match referee gave an emotional news conference in which he called out Real for criticising the official on their in-house TV channel.<\/p>\n

Real said the complaints by Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea, which were echoed by the VAR referee appointed to the final, against pressure from the club\u2019s television channel were \u201cunacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Spanish champions boycotted the news conference, the open training in front of the media, the traditional presidents\u2019 dinner and a pre-match photo-call.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese statements \u2026 made in a premeditated manner 24 hours earlier against one of the participants in the final, demonstrate, once again, a clear and manifest animosity and hostility of these referees towards Real Madrid,\u201d the Madrid club said on the eve of Saturday\u2019s cup final in Seville.<\/p>\n

A source close to the news agency Reuters said Real saw the news conference as \u201ca clear conflict of interest\u201d and, while they have not asked the Spanish FA (RFEF) to replace the officials, they believe the refereeing team should be changed.<\/p>\n

RFEF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\"The
The empty news conference tribune is seen as Real Madrid decides not to attend a news conference at La Cartuja stadium [Cristina Quicler\/AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Preparations for the final were thrown into chaos when match referee De Burgos gave a news conference in which he cried as he responded to the RMTV video.<\/p>\n

The video, released on Thursday, shows what RMTV says is a series of errors made by De Burgos throughout his career.<\/p>\n

The release is the latest in a string of edits by RMTV, criticising Spanish officials.<\/p>\n

De Burgos expressed his distress during the news conference, stating: \u201cWhen a child arrives at school and his mates tell him that his father is a thief, it makes you sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to emphasise his integrity and the challenges faced by many officials, in professional football and at the grassroots level.<\/p>\n

Barcelona back ref protection<\/h2>\n

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick said on Friday that action should be taken to protect referees due to the pressure they face.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s only a sport. It\u2019s only a game. It\u2019s only football \u2026 It is our responsibility to protect not only the players but all the people involved in the game,\u201d Flick told a news conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not nice that happened today. Of course, sometimes on the pitch that are some decisions that are about emotion, but after the match, we should be done with it. Something must be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

In February, the Spanish football federation (RFEF) highlighted referees\u2019 concerns about abuse, citing the case of official Jose Munuera Montero, who faced a backlash after issuing a red card to Real Madrid\u2019s Jude Bellingham.<\/p>\n

A few weeks earlier, Real had also lodged a letter of complaint against the Spanish referees following their 1-0 defeat by Espanyol.<\/p>\n

\"SEVILLE,
Hansi Flick, manager of FC Barcelona, speaks during a news conference before the Copa del Rey final at Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville [Fran Santiago\/Getty Images]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Barca told to \u2018enjoy\u2019 Copa finale<\/h2>\n

Flick called on his young side to \u201cenjoy\u201d battling rivals Real in the final.<\/p>\n

The Catalans are hoping to land a potential quadruple this season, with the Copa their next target after winning the Spanish Super Cup in January against Real Madrid.<\/p>\n

In the two Clasicos this season, Barca triumphed 4-0 in LaLiga last October and then 5-2 in the final in Saudi Arabia, but Flick said his team are not necessarily favourites.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to enjoy it, we have a really young team \u2013 this is a great experience, playing this final, against one of the best teams in the world,\u201d Flick said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA final is different, it\u2019s not about favourites.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to start the match tomorrow, and we want to fight for this title.\u201d<\/p>\n

Los Blancos have struggled this season, knocked out of the Champions League by Arsenal in the quarterfinals, and are four points behind Barca at the top of LaLiga.<\/p>\n

Flick\u2019s exciting side are led by dynamic winger Lamine Yamal, only 17, and boast several young players including Pau Cubarsi, Gavi and Pedri.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m surprised by how incredible their mentality is,\u201d said Barcelona captain Ronald Araujo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s as if we are not playing a final tomorrow, they are so calm \u2026 these kids from La Masia [FC Barcelona\u2019s youth academy], it\u2019s surprised me a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot just Cubarsi, Lamine, Fermin [Lopez], also [Hector] Fort, everyone \u2026 they\u2019re incredible. The guys from La Masia are amazing, they have no fear.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Source<\/p>\n

: <\/p>\n

Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who: Real Madrid vs Barcelona What: Spanish Copa del Rey Where: La Cartuja stadium, Seville, Spain When: Saturday at 10pm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7282,"featured_media":10676,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1168],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7282"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usaontheweb.com\/clone1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}