Real Madrid's Denis Cheryshev Copa Blunder Is Club's Failure, Not Rafa Benitez's

As if the past few weeks hadn't been difficult enough for Real Madrid—they had a spate of injuries, a first defeat of the season to Sevilla and then a 4-0 humiliation to Barcelona in El Clasico—Wednesday night's Copa del Rey game saw them make a mistake so ridiculous and basic that it has reduced the world's biggest club to a laughing stock.

Facing Cadiz in the first leg of the round of 32, Real Madrid boss Rafael Benitez made plenty of changes to his side as he looked to spread around the game time and overcome the injuries his side has—particularly in defence, with Denis Cheryshev one of those changes.

The Russian winger came in to play at left-back—but minutes after kick-off, social media was awash with a mixture of outrage, embarrassment, incredulity and outright laughter from different quarters as it became apparent that Cheryshev was ineligible for the match, facing a suspension held over from last season.

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Breaking: Real Madrid might be disqualified from the Copa del Rey for playing Cheryshev who was ineligible for tonight's game.More to follow

— AS English (@English_AS) December 2, 2015"

Per Marca, Cheryshev took three yellow cards last term on loan at Villarreal and faced a one-game ban, which could result in Real being thrown out if Cadiz file a complaint. It's yet another farcical situation the club finds itself in and one that highlights an ongoing lack of culpability and strong management from within, but this isn't a scenario that should see fingers pointed at the head coach.

The Issue and Precedent

First things first. Unlike English domestic football, where bookings in any of the three competitions are accrued together, Spanish football separates its disciplinary action. Yellow cards in La Liga apply only to La Liga, and the same goes for the Copa del Rey. Cheryshev's third card came against—of all opponents—Barcelona last term, in the semi-final second leg.

As Villarreal lost in that round, there was no additional fixture to play and complete the suspension in—but that simply carried over into this season. AS tweeted the proof of the suspension with a RFEF document (in Spanish) detailing Cheryshev, appearing alongside others such as Gerard Pique and Jonathan dos Santos, banned for an accumulation of cards:

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.@Cheryshev estaba sancionado. Esta es la prueba https://t.co/C955bOp16y pic.twitter.com/yBYcsQwHNG

— AS (@diarioas) December 2, 2015"

Earlier in this campaign, the Copa fixture Osasuna vs. Mirandes saw an ineligible player take part and, according to Marca, "the Pamplona-based outfit were knocked out of the cup for illegally fielding Aitor." It still requires Cadiz to go ahead and file the complaint against Real Madrid, as the governing body won't intervene otherwise, but there seems little doubt that the Segunda B team will do so.

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Vizcaino, Cadiz president:confirms that the club will proceed and denounce Madrid for fielding an ineligible player in tonight's game.

— AS English (@English_AS) December 2, 2015"

Marca also noted the rule infringement in full, for avoidance of doubt that Real face expulsion from the competition: 

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Any club fielding a footballer who is ineligible or does not meet the regulatory requirements necessary to take part in a match, will forfeit said match, and the opponent will be declared the winner with a result of 3-0, unless they already won the game with a better score and the competition was to be decided on points, in which case the original score would stand. If it is a knockout competition the tie will be decided in the opponent's favour. If this is the case, and there is still a second leg to be played at the opponent's stadium, the guilty party will compensate the opposition to the sum of its average revenue over the past two cup campaigns.

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If the regulations are adhered to, Real will not only forfeit their place in the Copa del Rey but also have to pay out to Cadiz a lump sum to make up for the revenue lost with the second leg not set to take place at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Rafa Benitez and "Good Faith"

As irony would have it, Cheryshev was the man to score the opening goal of the game. Clearly at some point during the half-time interval or just afterward, someone alerted the coaching staff to the fact he shouldn't have been on the pitch, and the Russian was substituted just seconds into the second half.

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

Per Sport, Benitez said in his post-match press conference that he and the team knew nothing about the supposed situation: "The club knew nothing and nor did Cheryshev. Villarreal hadn't informed us and for this nobody knew anything. We found out at half-time and for this, I insist, we substituted him to show our good faith. We played a great game in difficult circumstances. We won and I'm satisfied with the players' work."

Unfortunately for Real Madrid, "not knowing anything" isn't usually an acceptable or applicable response when it comes to self-governing and following the rules.

Acting in good faith was the very minimum Real had to do, and immediately, but the damage had been done. Quite aside from anything else, Cheryshev had already scored in the game—and as Cadiz or any smaller side would no doubt point out, the first goal of the game is always the most difficult and important one. If he had not been on the pitch and in that position, who knows what else might have transpired...but he was, and he did indeed have a profound effect on the outcome.

It's tough to argue against that, but the blame for this error cannot fall at Rafa Benitez's feet.

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

The manager wasn't even at the club last season, for starters. He was at Napoli, in a different country, with a different set of problems to worry about. Should he check his teamsheet, and make sure everyone is available? Sure...but he probably has a go-to staff member to do it.

There will be a club secretary, or a player liaison, or an administrative staffer, whose role it is to ensure availability. There will probably be another whose job it is to track and monitor progress of those players out on loan, as Cheryshev was last year. There will, or at least should, be some form of continuity from one season to the next so that somebody was aware of the situation.

But it needn't be Benitez's fault, even though Marca were quick to report on Thursday that his Valencia team were eliminated from the Copa in 2001 for fielding four non-EU players when only three were allowed.

Responsibility and Mismanagement

Real Madrid's official response to the situation is essentially it's not our fault, so let's wait and see. The club released an official statement on Thursday morning via the club website, with Emilio Butragueno saying:

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The club were not notified about the sanction. We did not receive any form of notification from the Federation or from Villarreal and nor was the player informed about the circumstance.

This is not about looking for someone to take the blame. We are going to wait and see what happens. There is an article, 41 of the Spanish Football Federation's Disciplinary Code, it states that the possible sanction will not take effect if the interested party is not notified personally and the player was not notified. That is why Cheryshev was playing. We have talked over the course of the night at the club with everyone involved and there is no record.

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Cheryshev himself also said the same: "I did not receive any notification from Villarreal to inform me that I had been banned from playing in the Copa del Rey."

Good for him. And, given his entire footballing formative education has taken place with Spain and Real Madrid, are we really to believe that considering he was cautioned in the semi-final second leg, Cheryshev genuinely didn't know that he would miss out on the final itself if he was carded in that game and Villarreal won?

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

Perhaps he simply is that lacking in regard for his profession that he paid no attention to the possibilities, but it seems unlikely.

As the player has, the club has. Real Madrid are taking no responsibility for the error. Comprehend the scenes if they were facing a bigger club in the competition and it was their opponents who fielded someone ineligible. The demands for the rules to be upheld, for accountability, justification and punishment, would have rendered the final whistle of the match itself inaudible.

Real are the biggest club in world football and, as such, have no hiding place when it comes to mistakes and stupidity, hypocrisy or sympathy. They messed up. The football world knows it. And the football world will demand that they pay the appropriate price, just like any other club should.

As much as it will irk the club and their fans, the most appropriate response of all probably came from Barcelona centre-back Gerard Pique on Twitter.

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😂😂😂😭😭😭😂😂😂

— Gerard Piqué (@3gerardpique) December 2, 2015"

Going Forward

As Sport have so aptly and brutally publicised on Thursday, 2015 has been an "annus horribilis" for "Ridiculous Madrid Football Club."

From the much-maligned way they let Iker Casillas leave the club without due ceremony, to the transfer-deadline debacle of David de Gea's non-arrival from Manchester United and right up to the current issues of Cheryshev and Karim Benzema—reportedly involved in a sex-tape blackmail scandal featuring national team-mate Mathieu Valbuena—the calendar year has been an atrocious one off the field for the capital-city club.

On top of that, they've won precisely nothing on the field.

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

It has to stop. For the club to not just be successful but to manage a sustained improvement in image as well as winning silverware, the professionalism and accountability from within the club itself has to be shaken up. In a club as big as this one, everyone has a role, and every role must be filled with competent, diligent and conscientious staff, from the admin roles to the scouting department and everything in between.

Florentino Perez hasn't had an easy ride of late, with plenty of fingers being pointed his way for the farcical situations the club keeps getting put into, and the Cheryshev incident could be the biggest one of all, as well as the most basic.

Being unceremoniously thrown out of the Copa del Rey would be a final, poignant, perplexing note for Real Madrid to end 2015 on—but they should also use it as a reference point to turn things around and head into the new year with far more expectation and demands on bettering the overall performance of the club.

Follow @karlmatchett