Real Madrid are reported to be angered by the appointment of Italian referee Daniele Orsato for their Champions League quarter-final second leg against Chelsea due to a number of hostile previous encounters.
Tensions between the referee and Los Blancos began to emerge three years ago after Orsato became the first official to show a red card to a Real Madrid player in a Champions League match at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Orsato gave Sergio Ramos his marching orders after 86 minutes of the 2-1 loss on the night, which confirmed Real’s exit from the competition at the Round of 16 stage after a 4-2 loss on aggregate.
The referee also gave what was deemed by Real supporters to be a controversial penalty to City after a challenge from Dani Carvajal when the scores were level at 1-1.
Luka Modric was said to be particularly angered by the incident and Real’s early exit from the Champions League that year, and his feelings were only worsened after Orsato took charge of Croatia’s semi-final loss against Argentina at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Orsato awarded a penalty to the eventual World Cup Champions after a collision between Julian Alvarez and Dominik Livakovic, which Croatia felt was given the wrong way.
Speaking after Croatia’s final four exit, Modric told the world’s media: “I never talk about the referees, but now it’s impossible not to.
“Orsato is one of the worst I know and I’m not referring only to this game, because he has refereed my matches many times and I’ve never had good memories of him. It is a disaster”.