Real Madrid could be kicked out of the Copa del Rey after they fielded an ineligible player in their match on Wednesday night.
Rafael Benítez made a number of changes for the match against third-tier side Cádiz, one of which was including Denis Cheryshev in his starting side.
He made a great start to the game scoring after just three minutes, but it may all count for nothing after it was revealed that the player was in fact ineligible for the game.
Cheryshev was handed a one-match ban in the tournament as a result of having picked up three yellow cards last year with Villareal, where he was on loan, and this match against Cádiz was the first opportunity he had to serve it.
The RFEF communique from March 6 confirming that Denis Cheryshev (Villarreal) has a 1 match #CopaDelRey sanction pic.twitter.com/zQrLVAIUB2
— AS English (@English_AS) December 2, 2015
The story is unsurprisingly making headlines on the front pages in Spain, with Marca highlighting the number of mistakes the club has made in recent months, including the De Gea transfer debacle, under the headline "if Bernabeu could see this now...". Meanwhile, the Barcelona-based paper El Mundo Deportivo dub it "the big botch job".
『Mundo Deportivo〠"La Gran Pifia" 「大失態〠pic.twitter.com/9ZN6wKEtpY
— KSK (@Regateador_7) December 3, 2015
MARCA | "If Bernabeu came back to life..." - De Gea fax, Benzema's affair, injuries, and now this, all in 3 months. pic.twitter.com/DmEXIG5cD6
— BlancoEdition (@BlancoEdition) December 3, 2015
According to The Guardian, Benítez stated after the match that "we had no idea that Cheryshev was ineligible to play. No one informed us of this situation. As soon as we were aware, we took him off".
Meanwhile, Barcelona's Gerard Piqué sent an emoji-laden tweet, while fans in the stadium were apparently chanting at the Real Madrid bench to let them know that Cheryshev was ineligible and encouraging Benítez to "look at your Twitter"
😂😂😂ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜‚😂😂
— Gerard Piqué (@3gerardpique) December 2, 2015
Cádiz would need to report the matter to the Spanish Football Federation for it to be investigated further, and their official twitter account stated that the board would meet after the match.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid's Emilio Butragueño has stated that neither the club nor the player were informed of the sanction that he was due to face, and that according to article 41 of the disciplinary code, the "possible sanction would not take effect if the interested party has not been personally notified".
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