“On a personal level I have said before that he is a great guy and he has our support”, Benitez said ahead of tonight’s Copa del Rey first round tie at Cadiz.
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Cadiz striker Dani Guiza has warned Real Madrid that his team will be fired up for their Copa del Rey last-32 first leg on Wednesday.
Denis Cheryshev started the game for Real Madrid and scored in the third minute.
The worrying precedent for Madrid is that Osasuna were thrown out of the competition this season after fielding an ineligible player.
Real Madrid are leading Cadiz 1-0 at halftime through a goal from Denis Cheryshev. But…
“If there is an ineligible player, Cadiz will make a claim”, the club’s legal executive Fran Canal told Canal Plus at half-time.
Valencia, who announced the appointment of Gary Neville as coach earlier on Wednesday, came from behind to beat Barakaldo 3-1 in the first leg of their fourth round tie.
That, though, will surely not save Real Madrid from being ejected from a competition they have won 19 times.
Real Madrid’s only hope of avoiding disqualification is that they insist that both they and Cheryshev himself were totally unaware of the suspension, issued to the player while he was still with Villarreal. He said: ‘The club knew nothing and nor did Cheryshev. “Villarreal and the Federation did not reveal this”.
“When we analyse it, we can’t forget this is a player who has been injured for 55 days”.
Rafa Benitez seemed to have been warned of Cheryshev’s problem during the break and he opted to leave the Russian in the bench and bring Kovacic in.
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Amid confusion, the 24-year-old took to the field for the second half, only to be replaced within 40 seconds of the restart by under-pressure head coach Rafael Benitez.
