Antonio Rudiger is facing a significant ban after throwing ice at the referee during Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey final defeat to Barcelona on Saturday night.
Jules Kounde’s goal in extra time sealed a 3-2 victory for Barcelona, while tensions boiled over on the Madrid bench in the closing stages of the game as an irate Rudiger attempted to confront referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea.
Both Lucas Vazquez and Vinicius Junior ran onto the pitch and aggressively threw their arms in the direction of the official before Rudiger followed up and threw an ice cube from the touchline, just metres from where Carlo Ancelotti was stood, towards the centre of the pitch.
De Burgos Bengoetxea came over to the touchline and gave red cards to both Vazquez and Rudiger, who then attempted to storm over to the referee.
Madrid’s coaching staff tried to restrain the former Chelsea centre-back as he then removed a bulky ice pack from his right knee.
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Six people, including two Madrid players Ferland Mendy and Jesus Vallejo, then stepped in to try to calm Rudiger before he was led away from the technical area.
Rudiger appeared to have been escorted back to the dressing room but the defender returned to the fray and attempted to reach the centre of the pitch where De Burgos Bengoetxea was accompanied by his assistant referees.
However, Luis Llopis, Madrid’s goalkeeping coach, and goalkeeper Andrii Lunin, together managed to convince Rudiger to change his mind before he left the field, this time for good.
The former Chelsea defender was not seen again, neither during the Barcelona tribute nor during the opponent’s celebration after winning the trophy.
In his official post-match report to the Spanish Football Federation, De Burgos Bengoetxea confirmed Rudiger had thrown ‘an object which missed me’, while Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle for an ‘aggressive attitude’ towards the officials.
The report read: ‘In the 120th minute, player (22) Rüdiger, Antonio, was sent off for the following reason: For throwing an object from the technical area, which missed me. After being shown the red card, he had to be restrained by several members of the coaching staff, displaying an aggressive attitude.
‘In the 120th minute, player (17) Vazquez Iglesias, Lucas, was sent off for the following reason: For protesting one of our decisions, entering the field of play for several meters, making gestures of disagreement.
‘In the 999th minute, player (5) Bellingham, Jude Victor William, was sent off for the following reason: After the end of the match, he approached our position in an aggressive attitude, having to be restrained by his teammates.’
Rudiger’s behaviour will put further scrutiny on Madrid’s conduct towards officials in Spain, which was highlighted by a tearful De Burgos Bengoetxea during the officials’ pre-match press conference on Friday.
De Burgos Bengoetxea and Pablo Gonzalez Fuertes, the VAR referee, both hit out at Madrid’s coverage of la Liga’s officials on own TV channel.
‘When a child of yours goes to school and there are kids telling him that his father is a ‘thief’ and comes home crying, it’s totally messed up,’ De Burgos Bengoetxea said.
‘What I do is try to educate my son, to say that his father is honest, above all honest, who can make mistakes, like any sportsperson.
‘It’s not right what we are going through, many colleagues, and not just in professional football, but also at grassroots level.
‘Everyone should reflect about where we want to go, about what we want from sport and from football.’
Madrid, however, were furious with the comments made by the team of officials, branding them ‘unacceptable’ in a lengthy statement on Friday night.
The Champions League holders also pressed the Spanish Football Federation to change the officials for their Copa del Rey final against Barcelona, but they remained in place for the game.
Pedri gave Barcelona the lead in the first half at the Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville before Kylian Mbappe, who started on the bench due to an ankle injury, pulled Madrid level in the 70th minute.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side then took the lead through Aurelien Tchouameni but Ferran Torres equalised for Barcelona in the 84th minute to take the tie to extra time.
Barcelona were aggrieved in the first half as they felt they were denied two clear penalties – the first was Federico Valverde’s handball went unpunished after he slipped inside Madrid’s area, while the second was Dani Ceballos’ clear shirt pull on Pau Cubarsi from a corner.
VAR also stepped in to deny Barcelona another penalty claim in the second half after Raul Asencio brought down Raphinha inside Madrid’s box.
Kounde then sealed Barcelona’s win in the 116th minute with a brilliant strike from the edge of the area.
In La Liga, Barcelona currently sit four points clear of Madrid at the top of the table with both sides having five games remaining.
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