What sanction could Rüdiger face? Here's what the referee's report says.

BarcelonaMadrid's frustration seeing themselves losing the Copa del Rey against their eternal rival, Barça, this was particularly evident in one of the final moments of Saturday night's match in Seville: referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea called a foul by Kilian Mbappé on Eric Garcia in the closing stages, and the Real Madrid bench reacted with indignation at the referee and was then held back by his teammates because he wanted to confront the refereeing team.

"In the 120th minute, player Antonio Rüdiger was sent off for the following reason: throwing an object from the technical area without touching me. After being shown the red card, he had to be restrained by several members of the coaching staff because he was displaying an aggressive attitude," the referee stated in the report. The throwing of the object and his "aggressive" attitude could result in a multi-match ban for the German center back, which would be served in the final matchdays of La Liga, when everything is still at stake. The ban could exceed four matches. The former referee explained this. Iturralde González spoke on Cadena SER, and specified that in this case, Article 101 of the regulations, which governs aggression against the referee, would apply. The sanction, according to Iturralde, would range from four to twelve matches.

This is a serious sanction and, therefore, will not be served in the specific competition but in any subsequent match on the calendar. That is, in La Liga. Rüdiger and Real Madrid are aware of this, and that is why the defender has chosen to apologize through his account to X. The objective, beyond regret, is to get the sanction reduced. The Competition Committee, when a club presents allegations about a red card, usually takes these types of gestures into account to reduce the punishment. Thus, Real Madrid's objective is for the punishment to be closer to four matches than twelve.

Kylian Mbappé's foul on Eric Garcia occurred in the final minutes of the match, as Real Madrid's forwards were trying to finish off a final attack, and the French striker let go of his hand and hit the Barça center back in the face. Los Blancos' full-back Lucas Vázquez was also sent off for his reaction to this incident. The match report states that he protested the referee's decision by "entering the field of play several meters and making gestures of disagreement." After the match, the referee also sent off Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham for approaching the officials "in an aggressive manner, for which he had to be restrained by his teammates," as stated in the referee's report. These are red cards, but in this case, they are considered a minor offense. Thus, both Vázquez and Bellingham face a one-match ban, which they would serve in the next round of the Copa del Rey.