Madrid have only themselves to blame for Copa catastrophe - Perez
Florentino Perez was adamant. Real Madrid have done nothing wrong. He did not know Denis Cheryshev was suspended - and therefore ineligible - to face Cadiz in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday night. That was the president's defence - and he may yet get away with it.
Cheryshev started in the cup clash at the Ramon Carranza and opened the scoring after just three minutes, but he was substituted at the start of the second half after it emerged that he had not been entitled to play, having picked up three yellow cards in the Copa last season when on loan at Villarreal.
And although Rafa Benitez spoke after the game of taking him off "in an act of good faith", Cadiz confirmed they will make an official complaint and Madrid are facing elimination from the Copa del Rey after playing only one game in the competition in 2015-16.
So how is it possible that Real Madrid - "the biggest club in the world", according to Perez - did not know when others did? Florentino faced the media on Thursday at a press conference called at the Santiago Bernabeu and said: "If the player didn't tell us, Villarreal didn't tell us and the Federation didn't tell us, how were we supposed to know?"
But others did. Information from COPE revealed that Cheryshev was suspended and Cadena SER later published the copy of a fax which was supposedly sent to all Liga clubs in July and which featured a list of all the suspended players for the opening rounds of the Copa del Rey. And halfway down the page, 'Cheryshev, Villarreal (one match)' could be clearly read.
By July 27, when the fax went out, Cheryshev was already back at Real Madrid following his season-long spell at El Madrigal. But a similar situation occurred with Raul Garcia, suspended from his time at Atletico Madrid before his summer switch to Athletic Bilbao. And the Basque forward was left out of the game to play Linense on Thursday - just as Cheryshev should have been the night before.
"I assume the player was notified by Atletico Madrid," Perez said when asked about Garcia. "That's the normal thing." And he added, quoting Article 41, Part 2 of RFEF regulations: "Sanctions cannot become effective until the player is notified." Perez went on to add that even if the suspension was valid, it would not stand in any case because Article 112 states that "all bookings are automatically deemed void after the third round, with a new cycle beginning for all of the teams in the last 32."
That is when Madrid entered the competition and if correct, it could prove to be a lifeline for Los Blancos as the RFEF decides their fate on Friday.
"Even if we admitted that the sanction was effective, which we deny, it would have to be automatically deemed void," Perez said. "Therefore, the sanction is not effective because the player was not notified personally and even if he was, which he wasn't, it's void."
And he added: "In conclusion, Real Madrid did not field any ineligible players yesterday."
Cheryshev started in the cup clash at the Ramon Carranza and opened the scoring after just three minutes, but he was substituted at the start of the second half after it emerged that he had not been entitled to play, having picked up three yellow cards in the Copa last season when on loan at Villarreal.
And although Rafa Benitez spoke after the game of taking him off "in an act of good faith", Cadiz confirmed they will make an official complaint and Madrid are facing elimination from the Copa del Rey after playing only one game in the competition in 2015-16.
So how is it possible that Real Madrid - "the biggest club in the world", according to Perez - did not know when others did? Florentino faced the media on Thursday at a press conference called at the Santiago Bernabeu and said: "If the player didn't tell us, Villarreal didn't tell us and the Federation didn't tell us, how were we supposed to know?"
But others did. Information from COPE revealed that Cheryshev was suspended and Cadena SER later published the copy of a fax which was supposedly sent to all Liga clubs in July and which featured a list of all the suspended players for the opening rounds of the Copa del Rey. And halfway down the page, 'Cheryshev, Villarreal (one match)' could be clearly read.
By July 27, when the fax went out, Cheryshev was already back at Real Madrid following his season-long spell at El Madrigal. But a similar situation occurred with Raul Garcia, suspended from his time at Atletico Madrid before his summer switch to Athletic Bilbao. And the Basque forward was left out of the game to play Linense on Thursday - just as Cheryshev should have been the night before.
"I assume the player was notified by Atletico Madrid," Perez said when asked about Garcia. "That's the normal thing." And he added, quoting Article 41, Part 2 of RFEF regulations: "Sanctions cannot become effective until the player is notified." Perez went on to add that even if the suspension was valid, it would not stand in any case because Article 112 states that "all bookings are automatically deemed void after the third round, with a new cycle beginning for all of the teams in the last 32."
That is when Madrid entered the competition and if correct, it could prove to be a lifeline for Los Blancos as the RFEF decides their fate on Friday.
"Even if we admitted that the sanction was effective, which we deny, it would have to be automatically deemed void," Perez said. "Therefore, the sanction is not effective because the player was not notified personally and even if he was, which he wasn't, it's void."
And he added: "In conclusion, Real Madrid did not field any ineligible players yesterday."
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