Real Madrid have been dealt a major blow ahead of the second-leg of the Supercopa de España and the start of the La Liga season, with Cristiano Ronaldo receiving a five-match ban after his sending off in the 3-1 win over Barcelona.

Making a show of it all

Ronaldo looked to mark his return to the Madrid starting XI in some style as Madrid traveled to the Nou Camp to take on bitter rivals Barca in the Supercopa, it was The Galácticos who took the lead through Gerard Piqué's own goal before Lionel Messi leveled things up from spot.
It was then time for the winger to go to work as Ronaldo gave the Madrid the lead once again, he decided to emulate Messi's celebration in the last El Clásico by removing his shirt which resulted in a booking. Two minutes later he was given his marching orders as referee De Burgos Bengoetxea had judged he had dived under the challenge of Samuel Umtiti.

The 32-year-old didn't take the decision lightly as he looked to push the official as he left the field of play, RFEF announced that Ronaldo received a one-match suspension for the dismissal followed by four extra matches for the behaviour towards Bengoetxea as well as receiving a €3000 fine for his antics.

Madrid have ten days to appeal the decision but it does rule Ronaldo out of the return leg against Barcelona on Wednesday, and will also miss the opening four clashes of the new La Liga season.

Not over just yet

Despite being reduced to ten men for the final minutes of Sunday's clash Madrid went on to secure a crucial victory, with Marco Asensio's late goal continuing his excellent record of five goals in five debuts.
It will prove crucial as Madrid prepare for the second-leg clash at the Santiago Bernabéu on Wednesday night, and though they have the lead captain Sergio Ramos stated that Madrid "can't get carried away" just yet.

"We’ve taken an important first step," Ramos told realmadrid.com post-match "But we can’t get carried away."

"It's a good result," the skipper stated. "But there's still the second leg and anything can happen."

"It’s important to highlight the team performance and not just the result," Ramos concluded. "The group has worked very hard in a physically demanding game due to coming up against an opponent who are very difficult to defend against."

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.