Hammers News takes an in-depth look at the referee who has been handed West Ham’s big last 16 clash with Freiburg.
West Ham travel to Germany today ahead of Thursday night’s Europa League last 16 clash with Freiburg.
The Hammers will then welcome their group stage opponents back to the London Stadium for the second leg next week.
West Ham play at home second as part of the reward for topping their group.
But the supposed “home advantage” is somewhat diminished by the fact UEFA and broadcasters have put West Ham in the reviled 5.45pm kick-off slot for the second leg.
Extra emphasis on Freiburg trip for West Ham
While German fans will be on an away trip jolly up, West Ham fans will be having to try and get off work early and somehow get to the London Stadium during peak rush hour. That’s before you factor in the lengthy stop and search outside the rented ground.
Therefore that puts a lot of emphasis on West Ham trying to get a good result over in Germany.
And the man in the middle for Freiburg vs West Ham been named as Spanish referee Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez – a FIFA official of 10 years standing. But is he the ref so good they named him twice?
Well fans may be interested to learn a bit about his past and present as well as his statistics so far this season.
Who is West Ham referee Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez?
Because the ref who admitted he was at fault for an infamous ghost goal has been handed West Ham’s last 16 clash with Freiburg.
Earlier this season referee Hernandez Hernandez admitted that he was at fault for Luis Suarez’s infamous ghost goal for Barcelona against Real Betis in 2017.
The clear goal was not given – denying Barca a result which would contribute to the Blaugrana’s failure to secure the title by three points at the time.
Hernandez Hernandez is also involved in current controversy in La Liga regarding Real Madrid.
Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees launched an investigation into how audio was leaked to journalist Gerard Romero showing the VAR of the match between Real Madrid and Almeria – Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez – discussing an incident involving Vinicius Jr. with the referee Francisco Jose Hernandez Maseo.
The development was reported by several of Spain’s leading sports newspapers including AS, Mundo Deportivo and SPORT.
Hernandez was VAR who sent off Cresswell in Germany
Hernandez Hernandez has never refereed a West Ham game before. But interestingly for the Hammers, he was on assistant VAR duty for the club’s Europa Conference League final victory over Fiorentina. So he would have had his say on awarding West Ham that crucial penalty converted by Said Benrahma which made it 1-0.
On the flip side of the coin, though, Hernandez Hernandez led the VAR duties during the Hammers’ infamous 1-0 semi-final second-leg defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt the last time they were in the Europa League two years ago.
Both Declan Rice and David Moyes received bans that night for hitting out at the officials after Aaron Cresswell was sent off on 19 minutes following Hernandez’s intervention on VAR.
And West Ham’s players should be on their guard in Germany. Because Hernandez Hernandez has dished out six red cards and 98 yellows in just 19 games this season. That’s over five yellows per game on average and 0.32 reds.
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