Real Madrid take Copa del Rey ban to Court of Arbitration

Real Madrid have taken their appeal against expulsion from this season's Copa del Rey to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

The 19-time winners were thrown out of the tournament for fielding the ineligible Denis Cheryshev in the first leg of their last-32 tie with Cadiz.

Cheryshev scored in a 3-1 win, but he should have been serving a ban, imposed while he was on loan at Villarreal.

Real Madrid claimed the winger was not personally told that he was suspended.

Osasuna were thrown out of last season's draw for a similar offence.

Real's initial appeal to the Spanish football association was rejected and after they had been thrown out of the competition, Real Madrid said they were sure "the final resolution will be favourable to the club".

They had still been advertising tickets to the return leg in the run-up to their appeal hearing.

Real Madrid's website was still selling tickets to the return leg against Cadiz on Thursday

The club's own tweet announcing Cheryshev's goal has become a rallying point for rival fans and been re-tweeted 7,500 times.

Cadiz's fans at the game sang that Real boss Rafael Benitez should "look at his Twitter" as they became aware that Cheryshev should have been serving a suspension rather than playing.

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique used the incident to poke fun at his club's great rivals, posting a message that included no words but several emojis and proved highly popular.