Barcelona Faces Sevilla with Controversial Referee Martínez Munuera

A top-of-the-table clash at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán. Sevilla against Barcelona. High stakes, high tension – and, as if the script needed any more edge, the Spanish Football Federation has handed the game to the referee who ignites more debate in Barcelona circles than any other: Juan Martínez Munuera.

The refereeing committee has appointed the Valencian to take charge of the seventh round La Liga showdown, with Raúl Martín González overseeing VAR. On paper, it is just another assignment. In reality, it drags a long, bitter dossier of grievances back to the surface.

For Barcelona, Martínez Munuera is never just “the referee”. He is the man at the centre of some of the most contentious nights of the last few seasons.

A Copa semi-final that still stings

The Catalan newspaper Sport did not have to dig far into its archives to remind readers why his name provokes such a reaction.

February. Copa del Rey semi-final, first leg. Atlético Madrid vs Barcelona at the Wanda Metropolitano. The game ended 4-0 to Atlético, but the scoreline was only half the story.

Early flashpoint: Giuliano Simeone launches into a violent tackle on Alejandro Baldé. The kind of challenge that, in Barcelona’s view, leaves no room for interpretation. Martínez Munuera reaches for yellow, not red. In the VAR room, Pablo González Fuertes stays silent. No recommendation, no trip to the monitor. The decision infuriates Hansi Flick and the Barcelona bench, and the club even considers filing an official complaint.

The controversy does not stop there.

Later in the night, young defender Pau Cubarsí thinks he has pulled one back. He scores, celebrates, waits. And waits. What follows is a seven-minute VAR review that turns into a farce. A fault in the semi-automated offside system forces the officials to draw the lines manually. Eventually, Martínez Munuera rules the goal out for offside.

Days later, the refereeing committee confirms the technical failure. The lines had indeed been drawn by hand. For Barcelona, the admission does little to soften the sense of injustice.

They lose that first leg 4-0. They respond with a 3-0 win in the return leg, with Martínez Munuera again involved – this time as the VAR referee. Even when he is not on the pitch, his shadow hangs over the tie.

The “Praise be to God” VAR audio that shook a Clásico

If one incident defines his relationship with Barcelona, it comes from the Clásico of May 2025.

That night, Martínez Munuera is not on the grass. He is in the VAR room, watching Real Madrid and Barcelona fight through stoppage time. The drama peaks when Fermín López appears to have scored a late Barcelona goal.

The celebrations are cut short. VAR review.

During the check, the audio from inside the booth records a phrase that will echo for weeks: “Praise be to God.” According to Sport, the voice belongs to Martínez Munuera, uttered as he spots a handball in the build-up and alerts the on-field referee, Alejandro Hernández Hernández.

The goal is disallowed for handball. The refereeing committee and the Spanish Federation later move to defuse the uproar, framing the phrase as a simple expression of relief at identifying the offence before the goal stood.

In Catalonia, the explanation does little to quell the storm. The words become a symbol, another line in the charge sheet of perceived bias and unnecessary drama whenever Martínez Munuera’s name appears next to Barcelona’s.

A long, complicated history with the Blaugrana

The relationship is not new. It has been building for more than a decade.

Since 2013, Martínez Munuera has taken charge of over 30 Barcelona matches. He has been there on nights of triumph and nights of collapse.

He refereed the 2021 Copa del Rey final, where Barcelona dismantled Athletic Bilbao 4-0. No scandal, just a statement performance and a trophy in the cabinet.

Three years later, he was the man in the middle for the 2024 Spanish Super Cup final. This time, Barcelona were on the receiving end of a 4-1 defeat to Real Madrid. Another big stage, another heavy scoreline, another chapter in a growing portfolio of high-pressure assignments involving the Blaugrana.

The 2025-2026 season underlined how often their paths cross. Three more games with Martínez Munuera in charge: a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao, that bruising 4-0 Copa defeat to Atlético Madrid, and a 5-2 victory away to Sevilla on 15 March 2026 – his most recent meeting with Saturday’s opponents.

The results swing both ways. The controversy rarely does.

A new season, the same tension

Now comes his first Barcelona match of the 2026-2027 campaign. The setting could hardly be more charged.

Sevilla’s Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán is unforgiving at the best of times. A top-of-the-table clash raises the temperature even further. Into that cauldron walks a referee whose every whistle, every card, every VAR check will be dissected in real time.

For Hansi Flick’s side, the focus must remain on the football. For Martínez Munuera, the challenge is different: to get through 90 minutes without his name overshadowing the contest.

History suggests that when he is involved, the game rarely passes quietly.

On Saturday in Seville, under the floodlights and the noise, one question hangs over it all: can the league’s most controversial Barcelona referee finally escape the storm, or is another night of headlines already waiting to be written?