Antonio Rudiger and Lucas Vazquez were disciplined by the Spanish Football Federation for their late red cards during Saturday’s Copa del Rey final loss to Barcelona.
Jules Kounde scored a spectacular winner in the 116th minute to keep Real Madrid’s hopes of winning the treble alive and possibly send Carlo Ancelotti’s team to a season without a trophy, but they lost 3-2 after extra time to their fierce rivals.
After the Barca winner, tensions erupted, and after the final whistle, referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea dismissed Jude Bellingham in addition to Rudiger and Vazquez.
Despite having been substituted off just minutes earlier, Rudiger was immediately shown a red card after being seen launching a missile in the referee’s direction. The German player had to be restrained and prevented from approaching the match official.
Bellingham was dismissed for allegedly approaching the referee in an aggressive manner, while Vazquez was given his marching orders for entering the field of play to protest the same decision after it was also withdrawn.
Rudiger, who has since been ruled out for the rest of the campaign anyway after undergoing knee surgery, has been slapped with a six-match suspension, which will also carry over into next season.
The German will miss the first game of the upcoming season if he recovers from recent surgery in time, as Los Blancos only have five domestic games left this season. The current prognosis indicates he will miss two months of action.
In a statement following the game, Rudiger apologized for the incident, which has garnered a lot of criticism due to the irate tone of his protests.
The club tried to use Rudiger’s heartfelt post-match apology to get a lighter ban, but the RFEF rejected their arguments and imposed a harsh penalty.
Bellingham and Vazquez’s actions were judged to be far less serious, and the disciplinary committee revoked the English midfielder’s red card, preventing him from receiving any punishment at all.
Bellingham’s ban was overturned because it was determined that a “different reality” had transpired in relation to what was stated in the referee’s report about his dismissal.
Captain Vazquez, on the other hand, had no such luck and was suspended for two games for coming onto the field after being substituted.
As a result, the right-back will miss Sunday’s home match against Celta Vigo and the following week’s matchup with Barcelona, which is probably going to be a title match in Montjuic.