Levante report Barcelona for alleged use of ineligible player in Copa del Rey

Levante have reported Barcelona to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) over the alleged fielding of an ineligible player in the first leg of their Copa del Rey last-16 tie.

The Valencia-based club beat Barca 2-1 at home in the first part of their two-legged clash, as Ernesto Valverde shuffled his pack, giving games to fringe players and youngsters.

Among the unfamiliar names in the starting XI was defender Chumi, who Levante believed to have been suspended for the match after accumulating five yellow cards for Barca’s ‘B’ team in the third tier.

A statement on their official Twitter account read: “Levante have presented this morning [Friday] the complaint to the RFEF about the improper alignment of a Barcelona player in the first leg of the last-16 match of the Copa del Rey.”

El #LevanteUD ha presentado esta mañana la denuncia en la @rfef por la alineación indebida de un jugador del @FCBarcelona_es en el partido de ida de los octavos de final de la #CopaDelRey

— Levante UD  (@LevanteUD) January 18, 2019

Barca are convinced Chumi was eligible, with Valverde suggesting the defender’s suspension was active for Sunday’s win over Eibar, while the club understand a rule change in November allows a reserve player to feature for the first team in another competition as long as the suspension is less than a two-match ban.

Barca won 3-0 on Thursday to book their passage to the quarter-finals, but Levante are adamant the Catalan club should be kicked out of the competition and have reported them to RFEF.