The referee for the much-anticipated La Liga clash between Barcelona and Real Madrid has been officially confirmed. For this crucial encounter, Alejandro Hernández Hernández will take charge as the match official.
The 42-year-old referee is set to oversee an El Clásico for the first time in six years and the fifth time overall in his career.
Barcelona will host Real Madrid at the Olympic Stadium this Sunday, with kickoff scheduled for 8:15 PM Bangladesh time. With just four rounds left in the season, many are calling this a “title-decider” as the two arch-rivals go head-to-head.
On Thursday, the Spanish Football Federation announced the list of referees for La Liga’s upcoming 35th round, naming Hernández for the blockbuster tie.
Hernández first officiated an El Clásico during the 2015–16 season at Camp Nou, where Real Madrid won 2–1 and defender Sergio Ramos was shown a red card.
In the following season, he was again in charge—this time at the Santiago Bernabéu—where Lionel Messi scored a last-minute winner to seal a 3–2 victory for Barcelona. Ramos saw red in that match as well.
The two most recent El Clásicos he officiated ended in draws. The last was in 2018 at Camp Nou, which finished 2–2, where Barcelona’s Sergi Roberto was sent off.
Between 2016 and 2019, Hernández handled one El Clásico each season. Now, he’s set to return for another high-voltage encounter.
Heading into the match, Barcelona sit atop the La Liga table with 79 points from 34 games, while defending champions Real Madrid are four points behind in second place.
In the season’s first league meeting last October, Barcelona demolished Madrid 4–0 at the Bernabéu. Under Hansi Flick, Barça have won all three Clásicos this season—beating Real 5–2 in the Spanish Super Cup final and edging them 3–2 after extra time in the Copa del Rey final last month.
That Copa del Rey final was preceded by intense refereeing controversy. Real Madrid’s in-house channel RMTV released a series of videos criticizing officiating decisions. The match referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea and VAR official González Fuertes responded publicly to those criticisms.
Real demanded both officials be removed from the final, but the Spanish Football Federation rejected the request. In protest, Real Madrid boycotted all official pre-match events, including training sessions and press conferences.
