Real Madrid to appeal Jude Bellingham's 2 game suspension, set to approach Court of Arbitration after initial appeal rejected - Reports
Real Madrid are set to approach the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) for Jude Bellingham's two-game ban after an initial appeal was rejected.
This is as per reports from The Athletic (via Goal.com), which have mentioned that Los Blancos are ready to go above the Spanish Football Federation.
Jude Bellingham received his initial two-match ban following an incident with referee Jesus Gil Manzano during Real Madrid's clash against Valencia. Real scored with the last kick of the game but the referee had blown the whistle moments before, making the goal redundant.
Bellingham, the goalscorer, was livid and went charging towards Gil Manzano and had several things to say in the heat of the moment.
"It is a f****ng goal! The ball is in the air! What the f*** is that?"
The referee reported this to the Spanish authorities and they suspended the Englishman for two games for using expletives against a match official. However, the CAS may not uphold the same reason and may treat this case differently.
As things stand, Jude Bellingham is set to miss Real Madrid's games against Celta Vigo this weekend (10 March) and Osasuna a week later (16 March). Any ruling from the CAS is unlikely to come in time for the player to feature in either fixture.
The Englishman has been a revelation for Real Madrid this season. He has made 31 appearances across competitions, scoring 20 goals and providing nine assists. With at least 10 more games left to play, he will look to add to his existing tally.
RB Leipzig players hit out at Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr.
Vinicius Junior was among the talking points in Los Blancos' 1-1 draw against RB Leipzig in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16.
Apart from his wonderful goal to put his team 1-0 up, the Brazilian was involved in a come-together with Leipzig skipper Willi Orban, pushing the Hungarian to the ground by the neck.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Orban said,
"The referees don’t have the guts to put such players down. He grabs my neck with both hands. That’s disrespectful."
His teammate Benjamin Henrichs, too, spoke in support, adding that match officials would not tolerate such actions against Real's players.
"If one of our players went for the neck of a Real Madrid player, he'd be sent off 100%."
Los Blancos won the tie 2-1 on aggregate, having secured a narrow 1-0 win in Germany in the first leg. They join Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City in the quarter-finals.