The referees' committee of the Spanish Football Federation has decided not to appoint referee Gil Manzano to officiate any match during the current round of La Liga, following the widespread controversy that accompanied his management of the Real Sociedad vs. Barcelona match, according to the Spanish newspaper "Sport."

This absence is interpreted as a technical decision by the committee, in line with the new policy adopted within Spanish refereeing, which is based on the principle of evaluating on-field performance, regardless of name or previous experience.

The match between Real Sociedad and Barcelona witnessed several controversial decisions by referee Gil Manzano, including Carlos Soler's challenge on Pedri, which was initially not called, but was later turned into a red card after consulting the video assistant referee (VAR).

Other decisions that were corrected through video technology, including Dani Olmo's error before Fermín López's goal, also drew criticism from the refereeing community. The same source explained that the referees' technical committee believed that Manzano did not succeed in making the two decisions correctly during actual playtime.

The exclusion of the referee from appointments for this round comes after the usual rest period between matches, reinforcing the hypothesis that it is a technical measure related to performance evaluation. This is in complete harmony with the new direction of the referees' committee, which has emphasized since the beginning of the season that any referee who does not meet the required standard will be removed from officiating matches.