Anti-corruption officials in Spain are reportedly investigating allegations that a linesman has been put under pressure to favour Real Madrid in an upcoming match with Barcelona. The linesman, who remains anonymous, made a formal complaint through his lawyer to the anti-corruption prosecutor in Barcelona.

The linesman alleges that the corruption started in mid-September this year when he attended a meeting with a high-profile referee, who was one of a select number of referees shortlisted to arbitrate the Real Madrid versus Barcelona match on 21 November. During the meeting the linesman alleges that he was told by the referee that he had instructions coming ‘directly from someone inside [the refereeing authorities]’. It is understood that the ‘refereeing authorities’ alluded to is the refereeing technical committee (CTA), a national body under the auspices of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). The linesman was told that he should steer the match in ‘a certain way’, which ultimately harmed the interests of one of the clubs, Barcelona.

The referees and linesmen team have not yet been finalised for the match, dubbed El Clásico for its status as the biggest football club game in the world, but both the linesman who issued the complaint and the referee he met have been shortlisted for the game. The linesman was reportedly told that it ‘would be more appropriate that the most difficult decisions in that game were not made by the referee, who would have a high media profile which would generate more controversy and be subject to greater media scrutiny, but by an assistant referee – the linesman.’ This way, the linesman was told, any controversial decision would be ‘diluted more quickly.’

Catalan newspaper L’Esportiu broke the story on Wednesday when it published the formal complaint, dated 19 October, made by lawyer Jacinto Vicente Hernández on behalf of the unnamed linesman. The linesman alleges that he was told that the practice had already occurred during previous seasons, where linesmen, not the main referee, were the ones making the controversial decisions, so as to appear ‘more subtle’.

According to the official complaint, the linesman showed his surprise at the request and that he ‘absolutely refused’ to accept the instruction. However, the linesman alleges that he was told that his career depended on following the instructions from the CTA, who had the power to impact the progression of his career and, it was suggested, could also detrimentally revise his previous performances in other games.

A few days after the meeting, the linesman allegedly received a direct call from a member of the CTA, after it heard of his refusal to cooperate. The member was identified as Jose Angel Jiménez Muñoz Morales, a person with ‘extensive experience in office’ and with ‘great influence and power within the committee.’ During the phone call the linesman was allegedly told that it would be ‘wiser’ to cooperate with the instructions in the interests of his career, and that otherwise the ‘professional life of a referee could be very short.’

According to The Guardian, Jiménez Muñoz, the alleged caller from the referee committee, said of the complaints on Wednesday night that he had ‘no idea where they come from. It is like something out of a Kafka novel.’

Reuters have reported that the head of the government’s sports council, Miguel Cardenal, ‘Spain’s top sports official’, has told the RFEF to state what it knows about the allegations. According to Reuters, Cardenal said, ‘I think it’s an extremely serious allegation, something extraordinarily alarming’, and that the assistant referee could ‘count on the government’s full support.’

Susana Monje, Barcelona’s financial Vice-President, is reported to have said that, if true the allegations will be a ‘dangerous story in terms of the prestige of La Liga.’ Meanwhile Victoriano Sánchez Arminio, the President of the CTA, told Spanish newspapers that the allegations made ‘no sense.’