During an interview with El Partido de las 12 last evening, the Barca defender claimed that their bitter rivals Real Madrid deserve to be eliminated from the Copa del Rey for fielding a suspended player. This comes a few hours after it was confirmed that, indeed, Los Blancos had been eliminated from the tournament for fielding Denis Cheryshev, who had accumulated three yellow cards during his loan spell at Villarreal, in the same tournament.
As per the rules, such a player should be suspended from the next match but the Spanish giants did exactly the opposite by naming him in the starting lineup. Ironically, the Russian winger even scored against Cadiz in the controversial match.
Cheryshev celebrates his goal for Los Blancos. The 24-year-old had accumulated three yellow cards prior to the match against Cadiz, hence making him ineligible to play.
Although the Brazil international did not want to sound too harsh or controversial after the mistake by their rivals, he insisted that if found guilty, Madrid deserved to be eliminated, as per the set rules.
He explained during the interview:
‘’Going by the precedents set, Madrid should be eliminated. Those are the rules.’’
Barca are the tournament’s defending champions after beating Athletic Bilbao in the finals at the Camp Nou last year. Founded in 1903, the Copa del Rey is the oldest competition in the history of Spanish football. The Catalans have won the 83-team competition a record 27 times.
