This is the kind of officiating story that manages to be both predictable and ridiculous. El Clásico was already heading into the usual furnace of scrutiny, and now Roberto Gómez says the man initially chosen for the game, Hernández Hernández, will not referee it after all.
The reason, according to Gómez on La Tribu, is painfully obvious: José Mourinho complained on dos ocasiones that it was surprising to know the referee for such a huge match so early, and the CTA has apparently decided it does not want to hand him any more ammunition. That is the uncomfortable truth here. The debate is no longer just about who should take charge of Barcelona - Real Madrid. It is about how quickly a referee appointment can become a political problem before the match has even begun.
A change driven by pressure, not calm planning
Gómez was blunt. “El que iba a ser era Hernández Hernández,” he said, before adding that “Hernández Hernández no pita” and that the officials do not want to give Mourinho “munition”. He also suggested the committee wanted a world-class referee, a man not burnt out this season, and insisted the appointment would now be altered. If that sounds messy, that is because it is.
The irony is that this is supposed to be the stage where the football takes over. Instead, the officiating has become part of the pre-match drama again. Gómez even floated the names of Alberola and Sánchez Martínez as possible alternatives, which only underlines how much uncertainty now surrounds a match that should not need any more of it.
And the wider context does not help. There is already controversy around Real Madrid - Sevilla, with a planned meeting between Fran Soto and Sevilla representatives adding to the sense that refereeing has become a constant institutional headache. The referees have met to discuss the appointment, but that only raises another familiar question: what transparency, exactly, is anyone supposed to get from all this?
Gómez did not pretend the issue was harmless. His point was simple enough: if a player is sent off, or if Arda Güler is shown red with 0-0 in the minute 25, the whole match changes. That is precisely why the referee matters so much in El Clásico, and precisely why this sort of pre-match uncertainty is so damaging.
The CTA will now pick someone else later, but the bigger problem is already visible. A referee who had been expected to handle one of the biggest fixtures in world football is out, and the change is happening under the shadow of complaints, suspicion, and another round of unnecessary noise. For a game that should sell itself, that is a terrible look.
