PLAY THE ADVANTAGE

Antonio Mateu Lahoz has gotten the nod for the El Clasico version of the Copa Del Rey final.

Barcelona and Real Madrid will face off in Valencia on Wednesday, April 16.

Mateu Lahoz is Valenciano himself, which may have tipped the scales in his favor, despite his never having refereed a Clasico before. The fact that top Spanish referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco has officiated both Clasicos this season, and Carlos Velasco Carballo will represent Spain at the World Cup, probably didn’t hurt, either.

Mateu is known to be somewhat permissive, which should be interesting in the context of this match. On the one hand, it’s good to keep the game moving or these two teams will stop it every few minutes with their flopping around. On the other hand, if he’s too permissive, tempers could boil over and things could get out of hand pretty quickly.

It’ll be interesting to see if he’s up for the challenge.

Mateu Lahoz officiated Tottenham once this year, and I honestly can’t remember much about his performance in that match. I consider that a good thing; anytime a referee is forgettable, he’s probably doing a good job.

Read about the appointment in Marca.