Madrid, May 17 (IANS) La Liga strugglers Getafe on Wednesday denounced Real Madrid for an irregular line-up from last Saturday’s game between the two teams at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
The incident happened in the last five minutes of the game in which Real Madrid won 1-0 and Getafe failed to muster a single shot on target. Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was about to replace Marco Asensio with full-back Alvaro Odriozola when Eduardo Camavinga signaled that he was struggling with a knock to his left knee.
Although Asensio had not left the pitch, Odriozola had already gone onto the playing area when Camavinga went off, and the referee Martinez Munuera allowed the change to take place. There are doubts over whether Munuera should have done so, a Xinhua report said.
The rules state that “substitutions will be effective when the substitute enters the field of play; from that moment, the player who withdraws becomes a substituted player, and the substitute becomes a player, so he can resume the game.”
The issue is that Odriozola was already on the pitch when Real Madrid decided to take off Camavinga rather than Asensio — who at no point left the field of play.
Getafe are clearly hoping their appeal is upheld, which could mean that rather than facing a 1-0 defeat, the game could be given as a 3-0 win for them.
The side from the south of Madrid are currently third from bottom of La Liga, and if they were awarded the game, the three points would lift them level with Valencia in 14th, while dropping Real Valladolid into the relegation zone and moving Cadiz and Almeria closer to danger.
With Valladolid, Cadiz and Almeria all adversely affected, it would then be likely they would appeal against any decision to award Getafe points, meaning the issue could stretch on to the end of the season and perhaps beyond.
–IANS
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