The unbelievable situation where Real Madrid where thrown out of the Copa del Rey last week for fielding an ineligible players against Cadiz is just another, and possibly the one with the most consequences over the next few weeks, in a long list of mistakes by the Spanish giants dating back to July.
The summer for Real Madrid fans kicked off in earlier July when Madrid president Florentino Pérez forced long term servant and captain Iker Casillas out of the club. The sight of Casillas sitting alone in a press room saying goodbye with no fans or nobody from the club their to support him was a PR disaster for Real Madrid.
Things went from bad to worse at the transfer deadline though when Real Madrid failed to sign long-term target David de Gea from Manchester United to replace Casillas. The fact that Real blamed the failure to complete the transfer due to a late fax, made the 11 time European champions then laughingstock of world football.
A brutal pre-season tour that saw Real play games on on three different continents combined with a string of problems with the club’s medical staff led to 19 injuries to fourteen different first-team players, forcing Rafa Benitez to have to chop and change his line-up on a weekly basis.
The humiliation of the 4-0 defeat at home to bitter rivals Barcelona saw Real Madrid fans publicly call for under-fire president Perez to quit.
As if Real Madrid’s troubles on the pitch were not enough, they also have their legal problems: the involvement of Karim Benzema in the Valbuena blackmailing scandal currently rocking France. With the court case still pending, a guilty verdict could end the striker’s career.