A referee coming on TV to explain himself. That’s historic. I’m weighing my words. After the Basque derby on matchday 11, Alejandro Hernández Hernández took the DAZN microphone to tell the story of his penalty: Nico Williams dribbling, Jon Aramburu colliding with him, in the 45th minute, at 1-1.
He said: “I found myself four metres from the action.” Me, in stand 2, seat 14, I’m thirty metres away, and I’m always right. Him at four metres, he says “punishable”. That calmed me down. A bit.
Real Sociedad’s players protested and asked for VAR. VAR confirmed. And him, on the mic: “But it’s normal that in the end, everyone expresses what interests them or what they think […] and their opinion deserves all our respect.” My opinion earns a referee’s respect. I took a screenshot for the “Sunday Devils” group chat. My brother-in-law replied with a thumbs-up. A disgrace, that thumb.
Then he promised to “analyse calmly this week” what happened, to see what can be improved. He talks like us after a defeat. VAR backs him, Bilbao win at home thanks to the second goal, and he’s still looking for what he can improve. The thermometer doesn’t know any more. Historic and suspect, at the same time.
Silly question, but if he analyses it this week, does he come back next week with the correction?
This post-match explanation could become the norm in La Liga. If a referee ever comes to Belgium, I’m warning you, I’ll call him ‘sir’. Now we take it one game at a time, you know.
It’s true, we checked: RMC Sport.
