Hernando admits that he stepped over that line on one session, with the 27-year-old - who is now on the books at Racing Santander - telling Cadena SER of how he risked being ostracised by Real: “I accidentally kicked Cristiano. Seriously, I didn't even mean to put my foot in. But in a play where I saw he was definitely coming, I went to the ground, he touched the ball slightly, and I hit him in the Achilles tendon, which was a cruel kick.
“I thought: 'My God, what have I done?' I didn't train again that year! I think it was around March, I don't remember exactly when, there wasn't much time left until the end of the season, but I wasn't called up again that year!”
It has been claimed in the years since that Hernando was completely phased out by Madrid following his training ground tangle with Ronaldo. He has sought to clarify that situation, adding: “That year, Cristiano went to Juventus , and the following year I returned to training with the first team. Then news started coming out like 'the youth player who ruined his career'. And I was thinking, 'My God, what a snowball this is becoming.'
“There were also reports saying that I had never been called up to the first team again, that I had been excluded, and that's a lie. It's true that in the two or three months remaining of that season I wasn't called up again, but I returned the following summer. In fact, they were counting on me for the following pre-season and I couldn't go because of an injury, but they were really counting on me.”