Real Madrid expelled from Copa del Rey after featuring ineligible player

  Real Madrid Football Club has been disqualified from this season's Copa del Rey competition after Denis Cheryshev was fielded as an ineligible player during the round-of-32 clash against Cadiz on Wednesday.

He was said to have been featured in a game while he was serving a one-match suspension. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez backed his team following claims they could be ousted from the tournament. He was quoted by BBC Sport and insisted every player’s status had been checked “rigorously”: “We received nothing, no note, nothing from the RFEF. We’ll take this to the appeals, then the arbitration court.


“We checked the situations of all of the players listed in the squad rigorously before yesterday’s game.

“Chendo [Real Madrid’s matchday delegate] and coach Rafa Benítez want the best for Madrid but they do not think they have made any error in this instance.”