Barcelona bashing and ineligible players - Benitez at heart of humiliating Real Madrid season

Things are going from bad to worse for Real Madrid and Rafa Benitez in 2015-16. Less than two weeks after their humiliating 4-0 loss at home to Barcelona in the Clasico, they now face elimination from the Copa del Rey for fielding a player who should have been suspended.

Russian winger Denis Cheryshev spent last season on loan at Villarreal and collected three yellow cards in the cup competiton - against Getafe, Real Sociedad and Barcelona. He was therefore banned from Madrid's match at Cadiz on Wednesday, but started as Rafa rotated his pack and scored the first goal in a 3-1 win.

The football was secondary as word went around of what was happening and some fans chanted: "Benitez, look at Twitter!" Cheryshev was eventually substituted at the start of the second half, Mateo Kovacic coming on in his place.

Isco scored twice after that and Kike Marquez grabbed a late consolation, but all eyes were on Benitez and Madrid after the match.

"We had no idea Cheryshev was ineligible," the Madrid coach said in the post-match press conference. "As soon as we realised, we took him off in an act of good faith."

For their part, Cadiz confirmed they will make an official complaint about Cheryshev and the matter will now rest in the hands of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), with a decision expected on Friday.

Speaking to Canal Plus afterwards, Madrid's director of institutional relations, Emilio Butragueno, said: "Nobody informed us that Cheryshev was unable to play. I have spoken to the federation, but we will have to wait and see."

The news is unlikely to be good for Real - especially after Cadena SER published a fax sent to all clubs with a list of suspended players ahead of the latest round of Copa del Rey fixtures. 'Cheryshev (one match)' was clearly mentioned halfway down the list.

While at Valencia, Benitez (pictured below in 2001) fielded four non-EU players in a Copa clash instead of the three permitted in a win over Novelda and his side were thrown out of the competition after their rivals filed an official complaint.

But the most recent and worst precedent for Madrid comes as recently as September this year, when Osasuna were eliminated after fielding an ineligible player in their Copa tie against Mirandes. If, as expected, the RFEF take the same line with Real later this week, they will be kicked out of the competition.

This is an administrative disaster and Benitez is certainly not solely at fault for the error, yet it is another blow to his hopes of success in a season which is already threatening to fall apart.

Six points behind Barcelona in La Liga and with the Catalans and Bayern Munich looking like big favourites in the Champions League, the Copa del Rey should have brought some respite for the under-fire coach and was a realistic chance for Benitez to claim a trophy in 2015-16.

But that already seems unlikely now and the 55-year-old will most likely take the brunt of the blame for the decision to pick Cheryshev on Wednesday.

Whatever does happen, it is another humiliation for the club and Benitez is once again at the centre of a new debacle just 12 days after his side were so brutally beaten by Barca in the Clasico.

The season may only be 18 games old for Rafa but the signs at the moment are anything but positive and this fiasco is arguably even more embarrassing for Madrid and their much-maligned coach. At Madrid, when it rains it pours.