Cristiano Ronaldo has been suspended for five matches by the Spanish football federation for pushing the referee after sent-off in Real Madrid’s 3-1 win over arch-rivals Barcelona in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup.
Ronaldo was also fined 3,805 euros and has 10 days to appeal the ban. The Real Madrid superstar received an automatic one match ban for the red card and extra four for his reaction towards the match referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea.
In case the appeal fails then Ronaldo will miss Super Cup reverse fixture on Wednesday and first four La Liga games of the season against Deportivo la Coruna, Valencia, Levante and Real Sociedad.
"Ronaldo's sending-off annoys me because even if it is not a penalty, the card is harsh," said Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane after the game.
Ronaldo was introduced as a second half substitute and scored a brilliant top corner goal 10 minutes from time to Madrid a 2-1 lead.
He received a yellow card his celebration where he removed his shirt before being showed another yellow two minutes later. It was his 10th red card of his career.
"Once shown the red card, said player (Ronaldo) pushed me lightly as a sign of his disapproval," de Burgos Bengoetxea wrote in his referee's report.
According to the RFEF's rules, such offences are met with a suspension of anything between four and 12 games, but previous cases also resulted in four-game bans.