It was late November 2010. Jose Mourinho was visiting the Camp Nou for the first time as Real Madrid coach and wanted to focus on the referee. “I am not worried about the referee, but if I take the statistics and some documents that I have read in newspapers … Barça is happy with Iturralde and Madrid less, but I think it is somewhat random. However, Iturralde is not a fan of Barcelona but the collegiate ones. I have confidence in him and I think he will do well; if the players help him, it is easier to do well; if he does not have help, it is not so easy. We want to help the referee, not complicate his life “, assured. One of lime and one of sand.
The meeting ended with the famous 5-0 and Iturralde tells how the meeting with Mourinho was and how he returned the pullita after the game. “Being so expressive, it is easy to see him coming. You saw Mou very easily. He says this before the 5-0 that is played on a Monday because there are elections. It was on the front page of the newspapers and we all read and listened. He wanted to condition me Of course, if you are an arsonist, you have to be an arsonist at all times. You can't be an arsonist and then sit for 90 minutes. If you are a rooster, you are always a rooster. In the end, he comes to congratulate me. I grab him by the shoulder and tell him. “You were wrong about one thing. Here's a rooster and it's not you, it's me.” The assistants who hear it tell me 'you've already passed', “he said in Carousel Deportivo.
The referee assures that Pep Guardiola was more difficult to referee than the Portuguese for being “more sibylline” and tells how the whites were the ones who did not want the Cup final of that season to blow. “It was the worst time in terms of tension between the players. Before starting, they greet each other, talk … With Mourinho, they did not look at each other. In that famous final, Real Madrid vetoes me because a very tense game was expected. You have to think about the referee profile for which match profile. If another one arrives, it can even change the result, “he said.