Real Madrid to take Jude Bellingham’s red card to Court of Arbitration for Sport in shock move

The 20-year-old England midfielder was sent off after he remonstrated with referee Jesus Gil Manzano following Real Madrid’s contentious draw with Valencia

Jude Bellingham was sent off against Valencia last weekend (Reuters)

Real Madrid are set to take the rare step of appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) against Jude Bellingham’s suspension after the England midfielder was sent off in last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Valencia.

Bellingham was shown a red card after he remonstrated with referee Jesus Gil Manzano, who blew for full-time seconds before the 20-year-old headed in what would have been a crucial winner for Madrid in the Liga title race. The clock stood at 98 minutes 40 seconds when Gil Manzano ended the game, with seven minutes added time having been indicated by the fourth official’s board.

The Spanish football federation (Rfef) competitions committee confirmed Bellingham had been banned for two matches for “attitudes of contempt or disregard towards referees, directors or sports authorities”. It confirmed Bellingham had also been fined €600 (£510), with his club fined €700.

He will now miss league matches at home to Celta Vigo on Sunday and away to Osasuna on Saturday 16 March, but Madrid will fight the suspension in sport’s highest court, according to The Athletic.

Cas usually deals with matters of significance like breaches of anti-doping rules or financial regulations, and it is rarely called upon to consider something as relatively minor as a red card. Any decision from Cas is unlikely to be made before Bellingham’s suspension occurs.

When asked about the incident, Madrid’s head coach Carlo Ancelotti said: “I haven’t spoken to him, I don’t need to speak to him about it. He is doing very well. What happened the other day, the red card was wrong. He had a bit of frustration, but he didn’t make any kind of insult.”

Jude Bellingham has been given a two-match suspension (Jose Breton/AP) (AP)

Meanwhile, Spanish state prosecutors have accused Ancelotti of alleged tax fraud, claiming he used shell companies to hide parts of his income during his first stint at the club a decade ago.

Prosecutors said in a statement on Wednesday that they are accusing Ancelotti of two accounts of tax fraud that would be punishable with four years and nine months of prison. They accused the Italian coach of having defrauded €1m in 2014 and 2015 by only declaring the income he received from Real Madrid while omitting his income from image rights.

Prosecutors claimed he set up a “confusing” system of shell companies to hide his extra earnings. Ancelotti allegedly used companies “lacking any real activity” based outside Spain “so that neither he nor the mentioned companies had to pay taxes on the large sums earned in Spain or outside our country,” the prosecutors said.

Madrid currently lead La Liga by seven points from second-place Girona, who are one point ahead of Barcelona.

Additional reporting by agencies