Bezukhan nightmare: the man who disallowed Cubarsi's goal to referee the Barcelona v Sevilla clash
The man behind the "Alhamdulillah" moment appears once again against Barcelona
The Spanish Football Federation has handed Saturday's eagerly awaited top-of-the-table clash between Sevilla and Barcelona at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán to the most controversial referee in the Blaugrana's history: the Valencian Juan Martínez Munuera.
The refereeing committee confirmed the appointments for the seventh round of La Liga, with Munuera set to take charge and Raúl Martín González on VAR duty.
His selection drags a record of contentious calls back into the spotlight, decisions in which Munuera repeatedly found himself at the centre of the storm against Barcelona last season.
A history full of controversy
According to the Catalan newspaper "Sport", the Valencian took charge of the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final between Atlético Madrid and Barcelona last February. Widespread controversy followed. He failed to send off the Argentine Giuliano Simeone despite a violent tackle on Alejandro Baldé, settling instead for a yellow card, while the video referee Pablo González Fuertes did not intervene to summon him. The decision angered coach Hansi Flick and prompted the club to consider filing an official complaint.
That same night, Munuera disallowed a goal for the young defender Pau Cubarsí for offside after a review lasting around seven minutes, caused by a fault in the semi-automated offside system. The refereeing committee later acknowledged as much, confirming it had been forced to draw the lines manually.
Barcelona lost the match 4-0 at the Wanda Metropolitano before winning the return leg 3-0, with Munuera present in the second leg as the VAR referee.
The famous "Praise be to God" incident
Perhaps the most famous episode in Munuera's record with Barcelona dates back to the Clásico of May 2025. He was in the VAR room when a goal by Fermín López in stoppage time was disallowed for handball.
During the review, the audio recordings captured the phrase "Praise be to God" inside the video room, and the newspaper confirmed the voice belonged to Munuera himself as he alerted the head referee Alejandro Hernández Hernández to the offence.
The refereeing committee and the Spanish Federation interpreted the phrase as "relief at spotting the offence before the goal was awarded", but the incident triggered widespread controversy in Catalan circles.
A long record with the Blaugrana
Munuera has refereed Barcelona regularly since 2013, taking charge of more than 30 matches for the Blaugrana. Two of those were finals: the 2021 Copa del Rey, which Barcelona won 4-0 against Athletic Bilbao, and the 2024 Spanish Super Cup, which they lost to Real Madrid 4-1.
In the 2025-2026 season alone, he officiated three Barcelona matches: the 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao, the 4-0 defeat to Atlético Madrid in the Cup, and the 5-2 win over Sevilla on 15 March 2026, his most recent encounter with Saturday's opponents.
The Pizjuán clash will be Martínez Munuera's first of the 2026-2027 season with Hansi Flick's side. It shapes up as a new test for a referee who never passes without leaving a controversial mark.
