Real Madrid did not make the most auspicious of starts to the defence of their La Liga title as they were held to a 1-1 draw by RCD Mallorca away at Son Moix on Sunday night.
The result was a disappointing one for the Merengues, more so considering that arch-rivals Barcelona had made a winning start to the new campaign against Valencia.
On top of that, Real Madrid also lost one of their important players for the next game against Real Valladolid after Ferland Mendy was shown a direct red card late in the game.
What happened?
Seven minutes deep into stoppage time, Mendy went in on a poor challenge on Vedat Muriqi, Mallorca’s goalscorer on the night.
With the hosts threatening a break, the French left-back went into a reckless sliding tackle on the striker, ending up catching him at waist height.
The referee did not hesitate even for a moment before showing Mendy a red card, reducing the champions to ten men, even only for a minute or so.
Mendy apologised to Muriqi
Now, Cadena SER has come forward with a report, stating that following his rash challenge on Muriqi and the subsequent red card from the referee, Mendy went up to the Mallorca player and issued an apology.
Mendy was immediately aware of the seriousness of his poor challenge and as such walked up to the Kosovan international striker and apologised for the incident.
The 29-year-old left-back will now serve at least a one-match suspension which could be increased by the Competitions Committee.
As such, the French international is certainly ruled out of next Sunday’s encounter against Real Valladolid at the Santiago Bernabeu.