BARCELONA — Real Madrid risks being disqualified from the Copa del Rey after fielding an ineligible player Wednesday in a 3-1 victory over Cadiz, its opening match in the competition.
On a night when Barcelona advanced with an easy 6-1 win against third-tier Villanovense in a first round, second leg match, Madrid and its coach Rafa Benitez were heading for trouble from Spain’s soccer federation after fielding Denis Cheryshev in a first-leg game.
Cheryshev rose through Madrid’s youth ranks after joining the club in 2002, but he played on loan for Villarreal last season and picked up a one-match ban after collecting three yellow cards in the Copa. Having since left Villarreal and returned to Madrid, the suspension should have been active Wednesday.
Instead, Cheryshev took the field and went on to score Madrid’s opening goal.
Federation rules specify that if a club fields an ineligible player, it faces disqualification from the competition — provided the opposing club lodges an objection.
Cadiz president Manolo Vizcaino said after the match that his club would indeed lodge a complaint, albeit “with pain in our hearts, because Madrid is a friend.”
Benitez said Madrid was not aware that Cheryshev was ineligible for Wednesday’s match. “The moment we discovered this could be the situation, we substituted him at halftime,” Benitez said.
Madrid director Emilio Butragueno said he had spoken to the federation and was told that a competition judge would have the final decision on the club’s fate. Spanish media reported that the decision would be made Friday.
The second leg is due to be played in Madrid on Dec. 16.
In an earlier match, a hat trick and an assist by Sandro Ramirez helped Barcelona to its comfortable victory over Villanovense.
After the first leg finished in a 0-0 draw, Dani Alves put Barcelona ahead after four minutes with a long shot that goalkeeper Jose Fuentes only got his fingertips to.
Fuentes then cleared the ball straight to Ramirez who fired it back over the keeper’s head in the 21st.
Villanovense pulled one back with a shot by Juanfran Guarnido eight minutes later.
Ramirez scored again in the 31st and Munir El Haddadi headed in Jeremy Mathieu’s cross in the 51st. Ramirez got his third in the 69th and delivered a perfect back-pass for El Haddadi to score again in the 76th.
In other matches, Valencia drew 1-1 at Barakaldo, Sevilla beat Logrones 2-0, Celta bested Almeria 2-1, Llagostera defeated Deportivo La Coruna 1-0, Betis beat Sporting 2-0 and Rayo Vallecano beat Getafe 2-0.
Caen fails to close gap on PSG
Second-place Caen failed to narrow the gap on runaway league leader Paris Saint-Germain after drawing 1-1 at Monaco Wednesday.
The Normandy side remains 13 points behind PSG. Monaco remains in sixth place, level on points with seventh-place Saint-Etienne, which lost 1-0 away to struggling Lille.
Elsewhere Bordeaux was beaten 1-0 defeat at Bastia, Toulouse secured a 3-0 victory at last-place Troyes, and Montpellier lost 2-0 at home to Corsican side Gazelec Ajaccio and Reims won 2-1 at Guingamp. — Agencies
