Real Madrid lose red card appeal despite Referees Committee backing

It has been confirmed that Real Madrid will be without Dean Huijsen for this weekend’s La Liga fixture against Espanyol, which will take place at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Last Saturday, Huijsen was sent off by referee Jesus Gil Manzano for a last man challenge on Real Sociedad captain Mikel Oyarzabal. Despite this, Real Madrid would go on to win 2-1 at the Reale Arena, although there was a lot of frustration surrounding the decision to dismiss their defender.

It was confirmed earlier in the week that Real Madrid had appealed the red card shown to Huijsen, and given that the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) agreed that it should only have been a booking for the Spain international, there was confidence that the decision would be overturned.

But this has not proven to be the case. A few days ago, it was reported that Real Madrid’s original appeal was rejected, but this prompted a second one – although this has also been thrown out, this time by the Appeal Committee, as per Diario AS.

It means that Huijsen, who has now been sent off twice inside the first eight matches of his Real Madrid career (first was against Borussia Dortmund in the Club World Cup), will not be able to play against Espanyol this weekend, which is a massive problem for Xabi Alonso.

The problem that Real Madrid and Alonso have is that Antonio Rudiger, who would have been the guaranteed replacement for Huijsen, is out for the next three months due to injury. Alternatives will need to be considered, one of which is Raul Asencio – he would be the favourite to start, although Aurelien Tchouameni could be moved into a deeper role, which would allow a midfielder to come into the line-up instead.