Real Madrid have got themselves involved in an unwanted controversy in last night’s Copa del Rey clash with Cadiz after fielding the suspended Denis Cheryshev. Although Rafael Benitez’s team won 3-1 in Cadiz, they could find themselves not being part of the subsequent round of the competition as RFEF rules give the governing body the power to throw them out for rule breaching.

Cheryshev opened the scoring in the 3rd minute before being hauled off 45 seconds into the second half. Cheryshev suffered a booking last season in the second leg of the semi-final with Barcelona while on loan at Villarreal which rendered him ineligible to play last night due to an accumulated cards suspension, according to AS English.

Real Madrid have claimed they were unaware of the situation before the match as the federation didn’t warn them. Cadiz president Manolo Vizcaino has stated his club will make a formal appeal which could see the giants kicked out of the competition for what could be said a basic misinterpretation of the rules. Benitez suffered a similar fate as the Valencia manager in 2001 for fielding four non-EU players against the rules.

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique, who has achieved a degree of notoriety for his anti-Real Madrid antics, also got in on the act as he took to Twitter to seemingly have a laugh at the plight of Barca’s great rivals. Should Real Madrid face the embarrassment of disqualification, Barca will have one less problem to worry about in their defence of the cup.

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

There are loopholes in the rule book which can aid Real Madrid’s defense, but the case with Osasuna last season, where they were disqualified from the cup for a similar offense, could force the governing body to take a similar stance with one of Spain’s most influential clubs.