The bizarre reason Real Madrid wore a kit from LAST season in draw with Valencia

Real Madrid were forced to wear one of their strips from last season during an eventful 2-2 draw against Valencia on Saturday.

The LaLiga leaders travelled to the Mestalla hoping to go nine points clear of Girona in the standings but were made to settle for a point following a contentious decision at the end of the game.

But the oddities had begun even before Carlo Ancelotti's side made the trip south, with Los Blancos forced to wear a strip from last term due to a kit clash.

According to MARCA, all three of Madrid's 2023-24 kits - their classic white, a dark navy away, and black third - were rejected by the league to be used for the fixture against the home side, who don a white and black jersey. The various combination of the strips were also turned down.

Instead, the visitors had to wear their away kit from last season, the same one worn for their trip last term when Vinicius Jr was subjected to racial abuse. Three Valencia supporters were subsequently banned for life.

The Brazilian dispelled those awful memories at the weekend with a brace that brought his side level after they had gone down to first-half goals from Hugo Duro and Roman Yaremchuk.

Madrid thought they had completed a stunning comeback in stoppage time when Jude Bellingham headed into the net, however referee Jesus Gil had already blown his whistle for full-time.

Enraged by the denial of their late winner, the England midfielder and many of his team-mates passionately protested the call, leading to the 20-year-old receiving a red card.

The incident-filled encounter was also marred by the horror injury to defender Mouctar Diakhaby in the 88th minute. He suffered a suspected leg break after Aurelien Tchouameni fell into him.

Despite dropping two points, Ancelotti's side ended the weekend with a further point advantage over Girona following the Catalan outfit's 1-0 defeat to Mallorca on Sunday.