Barca's Flick urges protection for referees ahead of Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid

VIDEO SHOWS: FC BARCELONA TRAINING AT LA CARTUJA STADIUM IN SEVILLE / COACH HANSI FLICK AND DEFENDER RONALD ARAUJO SPEAKING AT PRESS CONFERENCE AHEAD OF COPA DEL REY FINAL AGAINST REAL MADRID

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: SEVILLE, SPAIN (APRIL 25, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. FC BARCELONA FORWARD LAMINE YAMAL WITH BALL DURING TRAINING

2. YAMAL JOKING WITH TEAMMATES

3. COACH HANSI FLICK SURROUNDED BY PLAYERS

4. FORWARD ANSU FATI TALKING WITH DEFENDER RONALD ARAUJO

5. GOALKEEPERS MARC ANDRE TER STEGEN AND WOJCIECH SZCZESNY TALKING

6. PLAYERS JUGGLING

7. VARIOUS OF TEAM WARMING UP

8. VARIOUS OF PLAYERS SPRINTING

9. SZCZESNY DIVING AND MAKING SAVES

10. VARIOUS OF PLAYERS RUNNING

11. SPIDER CAM / YAMAL PASSING BALL

12. VARIOUS OF PLAYERS PASSING IN RONDO DRILL

13. MIDFIELDER FRENKIE DE JONG PASSING

14. FLICK TALKING WITH STAFF MEMBER

15. BARCELONA PRESIDENT JOAN LAPORTA SPEAKING ON THE PHONE

16. BARCELONA SIGN AT CARTUJA STANDS

17. FLICK ARRIVING AT PRESS CONFERENCE ROOM

18. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FC BARCELONA COACH, HANSI FLICK, SAYING:

"The fans, everyone wants to see the players, how they play, how they act. And of course we need the referees and so as I've said it many months before, I said we have to take care about that (criticism to referees) because it's not fair play so and not respectable to them and we have to take care. All, the clubs, the coaches but also the players. So this is what we have to do."

19. PRESS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS

20. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FC BARCELONA COACH, HANSI FLICK, SAYING:

"It's a final against Real Madrid. I think this stadium is unbelievable good so it's really, we have to enjoy it, we have to enjoy the day tomorrow, we have to enjoy the match and of course we have to give everything. So we fight for that, I've said before we started the journey on the beginning of the season and we want to fight for every title we can win. We have the opportunity to win three titles and this is our goal. We know it's difficult because we play against Real Madrid and they have a fantastic team."

21. PRESS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS

22. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FC BARCELONA COACH, HANSI FLICK, SAYING:

"It's the past, it's in the past (matches won against Real Madrid). We have to enjoy but I also said it before, they have a fantastic team and they are also able to hurt us. So for me it's important that we make our job. So we play how we want to play. We show this on the pitch and we fight for this title. This is what I want to see from my team."

23. PRESS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS

24. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FC BARCELONA COACH, HANSI FLICK, SAYING:

"I want my team to act like this, that we have respect for the opponent, and Real Madrid is a great club and I say it again, with a great team and we have to respect them. But we want to fight this, its 90 minutes or maybe more. We want to win the title and we want to give everything for that so it's like that, not about other things (being favourites)."

25. PRESS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS

26. FLICK LEAVING

27. DEFENDER RONALD ARAUJO ARRIVING AT PRESS CONFERENCE ROOM

28. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FC BARCELONA DEFENDER, RONALD ARAUJO, SAYING:

"We play against Real Madrid that is a great team with great players, it's going to be a very difficult match. I understand that people can say so (Barca being favourites) but we take it humbleness being aware that we are facing a great opponent tomorrow and of course we want to get that title. Regarding the treble, the squad we have really is more focused on having a good time, keep training and keeping the good dynamic, not about commenting all this."

29. PRESS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS

30. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FC BARCELONA DEFENDER, RONALD ARAUJO, SAYING:

"To be honest I haven't seen it (referee's comments and crying), they've told me I could get asked about this but we don't talk about this in the squad. Being a referee is a very difficult job so we need to respect them and understand what they do but I can't really comment further on that."

31. ARAUJO LEAVING

STORY: FC Barcelona coach Hansi Flick on Friday (April 25) urged everyone in football to protect referees amid controversy between Spanish referees and Real Madrid on the eve of Copa del Rey final in Seville.

Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea, the referee for Saturday's Copa del Rey final between Real Madrid and Barcelona, was brought to tears on Friday, responding to a critical video published by Real's in-house TV channel (RMTV).

The video, released on Thursday, shows what RMTV says is a series of errors made by De Burgos throughout his career.

After Barcelona's training session at the stadium, Real Madrid boycotted pre-match activities following De Burgos' comments.

A club source told Reuters that the decision was taken to pull out of their pre-match obligations due to Real's "unprecedented astonishment" at the De Burgos press conference.

Flick said action should be taken to protect referees.

"For me, it's only a sport. It's only a game. It's only football... It is our responsibility to protect not only the players but all the people involved in the game," Flick told reporters.

(Production: Guillermo Martinez, Miguel Gutierrez)