La Liga has confirmed the referees for all 10 matches in the opening weekend, and 43-year-old Carlos Del Cerro Grande will officiate the season opener at San Mamés between Athletic Bilbao and two-time defending champions Barcelona.
Del Cerro Grande was the referee the last time Athletic and Barca faced each other at San Mamés, which happened just six months ago and was a very physical league match that ended 0-0 with plenty of controversy. Del Cerro Grande sent off Athletic's Óscar De Marcos, and denied Barcelona a penalty from Yeray Álvarez on Nélson Semedo despite checking a few replays on the monitor after intervention from VAR.
This will be the 20th time Barça will have a La Liga match officiated by Del Cerro Grande, with 16 wins, 2 draws and just one loss (to Real Sociedad at Anoeta in the 2014/15 season) in the previous 19 games.