Ex-referee Iturralde González's confession about Florentino Pérez's request

An open war between Real Madrid and former referee Eduardo José Iturralde González has developed. The Biscayan, a regular on the 'Carrusel Deportivo' radio show on 'Cadena Ser', came out in defence of Clos Gómez after a Real Madrid TV video in which the current VAR director was accused of having harmed Los Blancos when officiating their matches.

After his statements, the official Real Madrid TV channel produced a new report of almost four minutes in which they reviewed some of the mistakes that Iturralde González made to the detriment of Real Madrid when he was active.

"This is Iturralde González, the referee who has finally taken off his mask and is now dedicated to attacking Real Madrid from the media," said RMTV.

Without mincing his words, Iturralde González explained on air that during the match between Real Madrid and Deportivo de la Coruña (6-1), corresponding to the 2010/11 season, he was questioned by the president of Madrid, Florentino Pérez.

Pérez urged him to join him in a separate room in the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, but the referee refused to do so unless his assistants were present.

Iturralde González says Perez said: "I only ask one thing of referees, that you give me the same treatment as you do Barça."

The referee asked the Madrid chief if it was a joke and when he replied "no" he ended the conversation. Half an hour later the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) was informed. He also added that there was no sanction.

"There are no corrupt referees because we are above these people," he said.