El ColegiadoData on refereeing in the Liga

David Fernández Borbalán × Lionel Messi

30 matches of Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) refereed by David José Fernández Borbalán, from 2004-05 to 2017-18.

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Player data: 2000-01 → 2021-22 only. Player-level match sheets come from Zenodo (BeSoccer, CC BY-NC 4.0 licence, non-commercial use). No free source provides them after 2021-22: more recent matches are not counted here. Penalties conceded are not attributed to players in the source, so they are not analysed.

In short

David Fernández Borbalán refereed 30 Liga matches in which Lionel Messi took part, from 2004-05 to 2017-18: 2,317 minutes played, 3 yellow cards and 0 red cards. With the other referees, over the same seasons (365 matches, 29,752 minutes), Lionel Messi receives 0.10 yellow cards per 90 minutes, against 0.12 with David Fernández Borbalán.

Verdict: no clear difference with the other referees.

Cards are rare (less than one per player per match): over a few dozen matches, only a very large deviation can be told apart from chance. "No clear difference" does not mean "no effect".

Matches

30

24 starts · 2,317 minutes · 13 seasons

Yellow cards

3for 2.5 expected

0.12 per 90 minutes with this referee · 0.10 with the others

no clear difference

Red cards

0for 0.0 expected

0.00 per 90 minutes with this referee · 0.00 with the others

no clear difference
For experts: statistical tests and method

Permutation test stratified by season: within each season, the player's matches given to this referee are drawn again at random among all the player's matches (same number per season). Deviation = (observed − expected cards) per 90 minutes played with this referee; positive = more cards than expected. q: Benjamini-Hochberg correction over the 3,781 pairs with at least 10 matches, separately for yellows and reds.

MeasureObservedExpectedDeviation / 90 minpqVerdict
Yellow cards32.51+0.0190.581.00no clear difference
Red cards00.000.0001.001.00no clear difference

The 30 matches

Minutes played and cards received by Lionel Messi in each match refereed by David Fernández Borbalán.

DateMatchTeamMinutesYellowsReds
21 Dec 2004FC Barcelona 2-1 Levante UDFC Barcelona↑ 58′ → 90′00
30 Sept 2006Athletic Bilbao 1-3 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona0′ → 90′10
9 Dec 2007FC Barcelona 2-1 Deportivo de A CoruñaFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
1 Mar 2008Atlético Madrid 4-2 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona↑ 56′ → 90′00
31 Aug 2008CD Numancia 1-0 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
6 Dec 2008FC Barcelona 4-0 Valencia CFFC Barcelona0′ → 81′00
1 Feb 2009Racing de Santander 1-2 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona↑ 61′ → 90′00
5 Dec 2009Deportivo de A Coruña 1-3 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
20 Feb 2010FC Barcelona 4-0 Racing de SantanderFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
27 Mar 2010RCD Mallorca 0-1 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona↑ 51′ → 90′00
19 Sept 2010Atlético Madrid 1-2 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
12 Dec 2010FC Barcelona 5-0 Real SociedadFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
29 Jan 2011Hércules CF 0-3 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
8 May 2011FC Barcelona 2-0 RCD EspanyolFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
10 Dec 2011Real Madrid CF 1-3 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona0′ → 90′10
3 Nov 2012FC Barcelona 3-1 RC Celta de VigoFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
29 Oct 2013RC Celta de Vigo 0-3 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
22 Feb 2014Real Sociedad 3-1 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
27 Apr 2014Villarreal CF 2-3 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
13 Sept 2014FC Barcelona 2-0 Athletic BilbaoFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
30 Nov 2014Valencia CF 0-1 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona0′ → 90′10
28 Apr 2015FC Barcelona 6-0 Getafe CFFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
20 Sept 2015FC Barcelona 4-1 Levante UDFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
21 Nov 2015Real Madrid CF 0-4 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona↑ 57′ → 90′00
17 Apr 2016FC Barcelona 1-2 Valencia CFFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
21 Sept 2016FC Barcelona 1-1 Atlético MadridFC Barcelona0′ → 59′00
12 Mar 2017Deportivo de A Coruña 2-1 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
16 Sept 2017Getafe CF 1-2 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
11 Feb 2018FC Barcelona 0-0 Getafe CFFC Barcelona0′ → 90′00
17 Apr 2018RC Celta de Vigo 2-2 FC BarcelonaFC Barcelona↑ 60′ → 90′00

↑: came on as a substitute. Stoppage time is not recorded in the source: minutes stop at 90.

Lionel Messi with other referees

  • Undiano Mallenco33 matches
  • Mateu Lahoz32 matches
  • Del Cerro Grande24 matches
  • Carlos Clos Gómez20 matches
  • Hernández Hernández20 matches
  • Gil Manzano19 matches
  • González González19 matches
  • Fernando Teixeira Vitienes19 matches
  • Martínez Munuera18 matches
  • Pérez Lasa17 matches
  • Carlos Velasco Carballo17 matches
  • César Muñiz Fernández16 matches
  • Ricardo de Burgos15 matches
  • Iturralde González14 matches
  • Sánchez Martínez14 matches
  • Delgado Ferreiro13 matches
  • Iglesias Villanueva13 matches
  • Ayza Gámez11 matches
  • Jaime Latre10 matches
  • Munuera Montero10 matches
  • Javier Turienzo Álvarez10 matches