Hernandez Hernandez will take charge of Clasico, despite last year's controversy

Spanish referee Alejandro Jose Hernandez Hernandez has once again been given the responsibility of overseeing this Saturday's clash between Real Madrid and Barcelona in LaLiga Santander, with Antonio Mateu Lahoz in charge of the VAR room.

The news comes after Hernandez Hernandez caused somewhat of a stir in last season's Clasico after he was accused of favouring Barcelona at the Nou Camp.

Back in 2015/16, he was the man chosen for the job, too. Madrid managed to engineer a fantastic comeback to beat their bitter rivals 1-2, but they were quick to criticise the referee's performance after he sent Sergio Ramos off and disallowed what they considered to be a perfectly legitimate Gareth Bale goal after the Welshman was adjudged to have fouled Jordi Alba as he looked to create space for his header.

The following year, he was once more at the heart of controversy as he sent Ramos off as Barcelona took home all three points after securing a 2-3 victory.

Last season's controversy

Madrid were once again the team who were left licking their wounds and feeling hard done to by Hernandez Hernandez in last season's highly competitive encounter between Los Blancos and Barcelona.

Even though Sergi Roberto was sent for an early bath in the first half for punching Marcelo, it was the referee's second half performance which left the Madrid faithful incensed.

The first decision that irked Madrid was when the referee erroneously awarded Lionel Messi a goal which put his side 2-1 to the good after Luis Suarez had blatantly tripped Raphael Varane in the build-up to the goal.

Madrid were further angered by 'Gol's' revelation after the match, which showed the moment in which the fourth official told the referee that there had in fact been a foul committed.

The second decision that left Madrid fans and players alike reeling was when Jordi Alba clearly brought Marcelo down in the box, only for Hernandez Hernandez to wave play on and dismiss their cries for a penalty kick when the match was evenly poised at 2-2.

Having said that, Barcelona also had something to gripe about when they believed that Bale should have been given his marching orders on the cusp of half-time after clipping Samuel Umtiti's heels.

Barcelona had already been on the wrong end of some of Hernandez Hernandez's poor refereeing decisions after he wrongly disallowed a Luis Suarez goal against Real Betis which was more than half a metre over the line before it was cleared.

Two Clasicos in quick succession

Before the two Spanish giants go head-to-head in LaLiga Santander on Saturday night, they will come up against each other in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday evening.

Jose Maria Sanchez Martinez will be the man in charge of this fixture, who also oversaw Barcelona's 5-1 demolition over Los Blancos earlier in the season.

The only source of controversy in that match was when he let play continue after Varane was adjudged to have brought Suarez down in the box.

He consequently conferred with VAR and changed his mind, awarding Barcelona the penalty, which Suarez himself went on to convert as he put his side 2-0 ahead.