Cristiano Ronaldo has been handed a five-game ban by the Spanish Football Federation after his red card in Real Madrid’s 3-1 Spanish Super Cup win at Barcelona on Sunday.
Ronaldo, 32, pushed referee Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea in the back as he walked off the pitch after being shown a second yellow and subsequent red for diving.
The Portuguese star had come on as a sub in the 58th minute of the game, then scored a stunning goal to put Real ahead in the 80th minute which led to his first yellow as he took off his shirt to celebrate a la Lionel Messi who did something similar back in April when Barca beat Real 3-2 in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Real Madrid, the reigning Spanish and European champions, kick off their La Liga campaign next weekend.
Under article 96 of the Spanish Football Federations’s laws, Ronaldo was facing a ban between four and 12 games for lashing out at an official aggressively.
Therefore he was given the minimum suspension possible, four games, for pushing the referee and the extra game was the red card he picked up against Barcelona.
Ronaldo will now miss Wednesday’s second leg of the Super Cup at the Bernabeu as well as their opening four La Liga games of the season against Deportivo la Coruna, Valencia, Levante and Real Sociedad.
