Former La Liga referee Eduardo Iturralde González has claimed that 90% of referees in Spain are from Real Madrid, while the other 10% are from Barcelona.
The 53-year-old, who is now retired after officiating 291 games in 17 La Liga seasons, was speaking about the subject during the El Larguero podcast.
When asked how many referees are from Los Blancos and how many are from Barca, González responded with a suprising "90%-10%" ratio in favour of Madrid.
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He continued, saying: "Whether Barcelona likes it or not, 70% of the population - excluding Catalonia - is Madrid's."
This isn't the first time Gonzalez has made such a bold statement. Back in 2014, he said the following to MARCA.
"The Spanish soccer referees do not come from Mars. You become a referee because you like soccer, and if you like soccer I do not think there is anyone who does not like a team.
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"I am lucky to have been born in Bilbao and in Bilbao the people are from Athletic. However, in the rest of Spain the majority are from Real Madrid or Barcelona because they are the winning teams, and it is so."
He did specify "that does not mean that when they whistle for Madrid they are not professionals", but it still caused controversy at the time.
Last week, Atletico Madrid responded after referee Mark Clattenburg admitted that Real Madrid's opening goal in the 2016 Champions League final was offside.
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Two years after being beaten 4-1 in extra time in Lisbon, Atleti were defeated by their city rivals on penalties in cruel fashion at the San Siro.
But Real's first goal, scored by captain Sergio Ramos, should have actually been disallowed according to Clattenburg, who officiated his first ever Champions League final in Milan.
"In that final Real Madrid went 1-0 up in the first half but the goal was slightly offside and we realised at half-time, Clattenburg wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.
"It was a hard call and my assistant missed it."
In the second half Atletico were given a penalty that Griezmann hit against the crossbar, before Yannick Carrasco added a late equaliser to take the match to extra time.
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The game went all the way to penalties, where Los Blancos emerged victorious when Cristiano Ronaldo smashed in the winning penalty for an 11th European Cup triumph.
But having seen what Clattenburg had to say, the loss still cuts deep for Atleti - who screenshotted several articles of the English referee's quotes and added a thinking emoji in for good measure.
Topics: Football News, Football, Spain
