BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Levante says it has made a formal complaint against Barcelona, accusing its Spanish rival of using an ineligible player in last week’s Copa del Rey.
Levante says Barcelona broke the rules by using youth player Juan “Chumi” Brandariz on Jan. 10 because the defender had incurred a one-match suspension while playing with the club’s reserve team in the third division.
Levante won the first leg 2-1, but Barcelona overturned the result in Thursday’s second leg to go through 4-2 on aggregate.
Levante says it presented the complaint to the Spanish soccer federation on Friday, hours before draw for the competition’s quarterfinals.
Barcelona says it did nothing wrong. It argues that Chumi should serve his suspension in the third division and adds that Levante missed the deadline of 48 hours to present complaints.
Barcelona has won the Copa del Rey for four seasons in a row.
In 2015, Real Madrid was eliminated in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey for using striker Denis Cheryshev while he was suspended.
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