Ahead of tonight's Spanish Super Cup return leg against Barcelona, Real Madrid manager wants star striker's five-game ban to be reduced
Real's Cristiano Ronaldo walks away after being sent off in the Spanish Super Cup first leg against Barcelona on Sunday. Pic/Getty Images
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Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane expressed his anger yesterday at a five-game ban handed to Cristiano Ronaldo for pushing a referee after being sent off against Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup.
Madrid hold a 3-1 first leg lead going into the second leg tonight, but will have to do without Ronaldo. The World Player of the Year was controversially shown a second yellow card for diving on Sunday and handed an extra four-game ban for a light push on referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea after being shown the 10th red card of his career.
"We are very annoyed," said Zidane. "When you look at everything that happened, to think Cristiano won't play five games with us... it is infuriating."
Zinedine Zidane
Ban review today
Madrid's appeal against the red card, which could reduce the ban from five games to four, will be held before the game today. "The (appeals) committee will meet and I hope they look well upon it," added Zidane. "Cristiano is annoyed because he wants to play and when he doesn't play, he isn't happy." Ronaldo was on the field for just 24 action-packed minutes on Sunday as he was only introduced as a second-half substitute after a curtailed pre-season due to his participation in the Confederations Cup with Portugal.
Two yellow cards
He made a huge impact with a stunning strike to put Madrid into a 2-1 lead 10 minutes from time, but picked up his first yellow card for removing his shirt in celebration. And two minutes later he was dismissed as he fell inside the area under pressure from Samuel Umtiti. Should Ronaldo's appeal not be upheld, he will miss Madrid's first four La Liga games of the season against Deportivo la Coruna, Valencia, Levante and Real Sociedad. However, Zidane insisted he is not desperate to add to his forward line before the transfer window closes on August 31.
"Anything can happen between now and August 31, but what I can say is that I am very happy with the players I have," said Zidane.
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