Cristiano Ronaldo was hit with a five-match ban by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) on Monday for pushing the referee after being sent-off in Real Madrid’s 3-1 Spanish Super Cup, first leg win over Barcelona.
The World Player of the Year received an automatic one-match ban for his red card on Sunday and an extra four games for his reaction towards referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea.
Ronaldo was also fined 3,805 euros ($4,500) and has 10 days to appeal the ban.
Should any appeal fail, Ronaldo will miss Wednesday’s Super Cup, second leg and Madrid’s first four La Liga games of the season against Deportivo la Coruna, Valencia, Levante and Real Sociedad.
Madrid had already signalled their intent to appeal Ronaldo’s second yellow card shown for diving eight minutes from time when he went down inside the area under pressure from Samuel Umtiti.
“Ronaldo’s sending-off annoys me because even if it is not a penalty, the card is harsh,” said Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane after the game.
Ronaldo received his first yellow card for removing his shirt in celebration at firing Madrid into a 2-1 lead.
“We will see if we can do something so that he is available on Wednesday,” said Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.
“Once shown the red card, said player (Ronaldo) pushed me lightly as a sign of his disapproval,” de Burgos Bengoetxea wrote in his referee’s report.
According to the RFEF’s rules, such offences are met with a suspension of anything between four and 12 games, but previous cases also resulted in four-game bans.