Carlos Delgado Ferreiro (42) will oversee the proceedings when the world stands still to witness the spectacle that is El Clasico on Sunday. Ferreiro has been refereeing in the Liga since the 2006-2007 season and in infamous for being very generous with the cards. This Clasico will be Ferreiro’s first game in charge of the whistle.

FC Barcelona fans will probably remember this referee for his absurd officiating in the game against Malaga in September 2009. From a previous post on totalBarca,

“Ferreiro was severely criticized by both Messi and Xavi after that match for his failure to protect the Barcelona attacker. In fact, Ferreiro’s performance in Malaga was so poor that he was officially suspended from refereeing for a short while.

“In their official report, the Spanish Technical Committee for Referees noted that Delgado Ferreiro did not make “one mistake, but a series of mistakes.” The report went on to criticize Delgado Ferreiro for turning a blind eye on Weligton’s attacks on Messi and Pique, and for confusing Messi with Chygrynskiy, and Abidal for Toure in his match report.”

Delgado Ferreiro was also involved in Barcelona’s derby against Espanyol in February of 2009. In the 1-2 home loss, midfielder Seydou Keita was controversially sent off with a straight red card for a late challenge on Espanyol defender Moises. Ferreiro additionally dished out 14 yellow cards during the match.”

In the controversial game against Malaga, Ferreiro ejected present FC Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova for protesting from the sidelines. Ferreiro also put in a poor performance with the whistle in the game against Villarreal in November 2010, ruling out a perfectly legitimate Pedro goal in the 24th minute based on a non-existent offside call. If Ferreiro’s past games involving Barcelona are to dictate the shape of things to come, spectators of the game can only hope that the officials are not the cause of controversy in a game that is often like a box of explosives with a short fuse.