Hernandez at Hampden for real this time

<a href=www.thescotsman.co.uk>The Scottman Fri 18 Apr 2003 STUART BATHGATE

THE last time Jonay Hernandez visited Hampden he was just an onlooker, part of the Real Madrid party flown in to witness their team’s triumph over Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League final. The Tennent’s Scottish Cup semi-final on Sunday may not be quite such an exalted occasion, but the Dundee defender is looking forward to playing a more central part in proceedings.

The 11 months which will have passed between his visits to the national stadium have seen the 24-year-old confront a dilemma which is common to many employees of big clubs. As a minor squad member, a mere spear-carrier, you need to move on to get regular first-team football: but can you do so without suffering too big a blow to your self-esteem?

With all due respect to Dundee, anyone who swapped the Bernabeu for Dens Park would be regarded as going down in the world, but Hernandez seems settled now. Being unable to break into the Madrid first team was no disgrace with a certain Roberto Carlos standing in his way, and by last summer he was reconciled to parting company with the club.

"I played a few friendlies for the first team, and sometimes trained with the main squad as well, but I was unlucky," recalled Hernandez, who was born in Venezuela but raised in Tenerife. "It was really difficult with Roberto Carlos playing in the same position as me."

Yesterday, as the sun beat down on Dens, it would have been easy for Hernandez to feel he was back home in Spain. Not every day is like that, of course, and he admitted that, at the time of his initial visit last May, he never dreamed he would be back so soon.

"I was playing for the second team and that was my first time in Scotland," Hernandez said. "I never thought I’d be here again. We flew back the same night and had a party back in Madrid, so I didn’t even stay a night here then.

"I didn’t know then that Dundee might be interested. I played on for another two months in Madrid, then my contract ran out and I came here.

"When I signed, it was all done very quickly, in ten days. I came here, I did some training, then the manager asked me to sign and I said yes.

"My agent told me it was a good option to come here, because Dundee needed a left-back and I would be playing in the top division. I came here, I liked it, I signed."

Hernandez has been part of a squad which, under Jim Duffy, have developed a more competitive edge, justifying their status as firm favourites to beat Inverness Caley Thistle in two days’ time. Although they were inconsistent during the first half of the season, taking some time to gel, they have thrived in recent months, and last weekend secured a place in the top six of the Premierleague.

"We have not lost any games since we came back from Trinidad and Tobago," Hernandez added, referring to the club’s winter break. "I think the team have improved a lot. We’ve worked harder and are playing to quite a high level now."

His English, too, is at a reasonable level, having been by his own admission nonexistent when he arrived. Everyday social encounters have helped him grasp the local language, but he has also been able to take a break by reverting to his native tongue in the company of others at the club such as Julian Speroni and Nacho Novo, both of Argentina.

"When I came here I didn’t speak any English. I go to the college sometimes, but it helps to have other people here at the club who speak the same language as me.

"To learn more English I also rent DVDs, put on the subtitles, read them and try to memorise them. Every film - Training Day, Collateral Damage . . . I’m a good member of Blockbuster."

Yet however native he may become, there will always be a part of Hernandez which remains attached to the institution in the Spanish capital which nurtured him as a player. Far from resenting Real for letting him go, he maintains an active interest in the club, keeping touch with some players, and watching their matches whenever he can.

"Unbelievable" was his description of their performance in the first, home, leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Manchester United. He witnessed that one on TV, but aims to be there in person next week when Real visit England.

"I hope to go to Manchester because Paco Pavon, one of the Real players, has given me tickets. The first half of the first leg was really good - I think Real are the best team in the world."

On the evidence of last week, that is hardly a controversial opinion, but Hernandez also has the evidence of his own eyes to go on. "When you are training with players like Zidane and Figo and Roberto Carlos, you can see how they touch the ball," he concluded. "It’s amazing."

Dundee manager Jim Duffy may delay naming his team until Sunday to give two players every chance of proving their fitness. Nacho Novo has been cleared to play, but doubts remain over two other forwards, Steve Lovell and the on-loan Mark Burchill.