The Board of Directors of Televisión Española sacked sports director, Julián Reyes, this morning, because the Spanish national anthem was not transmitted live at the start of last night's Copa del Rey final.

The national anthem was greeted with loud booing and whistling from the Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao supporters at the Mestalla stadium in Valencia, a scene the TV audience did not get to see.
 
The decision not to transmit the national anthem live was, according to the board of directors, 'a serious error' for which Reyes has to take responsibility.

When the national anthem was being played and whistled at by the fans, the TVE coverage switched to commentaries from the cities of Bilbao and Barcelona.

The controversial images were then transmitted at half time with an apology for the 'human error' in omitting them at the beginning.