A Spanish official who was an assistant referee for El Clasico last week has been suspended for supposedly being 'too friendly' with the Barcelona players.
Pau Norbert Cebrian Devis was not assigned a game in La Liga this week and will also not be officiating again next weekend after the refereeing committee reflected disapprovingly on his performance during the 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou.
According to Spanish radio station Cadena SER viaThe Mirror, the committee pointed out that the official was acting too friendly towards the Barca players in the tunnel before kick-off.
El Clasico assistant referee SUSPENDED for being too friendly with Barcelona players https://t.co/l3nRP5SEgv pic.twitter.com/zznqfIcdJk
Real Madrid were also withering in their assessment of the referee's performance during the draw with Barcelona, particularly a failure to award a penalty after Javier Mascherano took down Lucas Vasquez in the penalty area.
Madrid captain Sergio Ramos, who scored the late leveller for Zinedine Zidane's men to stretch their unbeaten run, said:"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."
Prior to the game, Zidane rejected ideas of the referee -Clos Gomez - favouring Barcelona.
"I do not believe in claims that any referee favours one club or another," the Frenchman said.