Real Madrid boss Rafa Benitez says the club wasn’t aware Denis Cheryshev should have been serving a ban in the Copa del Rey.
The Russian scored in Real’s 3-1 victory over Cadiz in the first leg of the last 31 tie but it emerged during the first half that the winger should not have been playing having picked up three yellow cards in last season’s competition while on loan at Villarreal.
The third yellow card was picked up against Barcelona as the Yellow Submarines were knocked out but the 24-year-old still hadn’t served his one-match ban before featuring in the game on Wednesday evening.
Los Blancos could be kick out of the competition as a result after Cadiz lodged an official complaint.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Benitez said he was unaware of the situation until te match had started, and he replaced Cheryshev at half time as an act of good faith as soon as he heard about the ban.
“The club knew nothing about Cheryshev’s suspension status. Niether Denis nor anyone reported this to us. We played him on faith. I heard about Cheryshev’s situation during the game as the rest of everyone did. We should be prudent and wait on this. This is all very strange. We must wait to see what Cadiz do first then what the competition judge decides. The club had no idea about this and when we did find out, we decided to replace Cheryshev from the game as a sign of good faith,” he said.
