Losing the cup final to Barcelona was embarrassing enough, but Madrid went several steps further with their childish behaviour

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In Japan, there is a philosophy that every person has three faces. The first is the one you show to the world, the one to be judged and build a public image upon. The second is what you portray to those closest to you. The third is who you keep to yourself, your true essence and personality, never to be cast upon by outsiders.

On Saturday in Seville, Real Madrid ripped off their third face like a mask and held it aloft, proudly or otherwise, as if it were Simba being raised up by Rafiki in the opening sequence of 'The Lion King'. Years, months, weeks and days of petulant nonsense came spewing out all ends before, during and after losing to Clasico rivals Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final.

It's bad enough being beaten by their nemesis from Catalunya on a normal day, but this was far from normal, even by these two raging crybabies' standards. What occurred in southern Spain this weekend will live on as infamous for Los Blancos, irrespective of how they will inevitably try and whitewash it from history.

Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱The disgrace of Cartuja

Taking the final alone in isolation, Madrid still managed to soil themselves on international television. Proceeding to wipe their backsides along the relaid turf of the Estadio La Cartuja should only add to the hangxiety-like embarrassment they need to feel.

There's never been a quiet Clasico on record, and those contested in knockout competitions are often the ones where tempers boil over. That's fair and part of football – we don't want to lose that emotion, we want players to care the way fans do. But this was a whole new level of ridiculous.

If it were only Lucas Vazquez and Jude Bellingham's red cards for us to divulge, that would have been reason alone to lambast Madrid. Antonio Rudiger's antics are what will likely ensure this match is remembered as 'The disgrace of Cartuja', one which should boast its own special Wikipedia page.

After Kylian Mbappe was judged to have fouled Eric Garcia by flailing a hand in the defender's face, the Madrid bench combusted in fury, and no one more so than their overly-emotional centre-back. The Germany international began hurling what appeared to be ice on the pitch towards referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea. As the official came over to brandish the red card, Rudiger completely lost control and had to be restrained by a member of Madrid's coaching team, his eyes bulging in maniacal fury.

It's an infamous picture that will stay with Rudiger for the rest of his career, one which encapsulates Madrid's utter rejection of sporting respect, and his apology is effectively worthless. No wonder he is now facing a ban of up to 12 games.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportPre-match antics set the tone

The probability of Saturday's final going down as anything other than outrageous was near zero considering how Madrid handled the build-up, which began with a dressing down of referee De Burgos Bengoetxea on their in-house TV channel. The club, not for the first time, assembled a video package of supposed errors and hinted at bias against them. Madrid later asked for the officiating team to be replaced just days before kick-off and had to refute claims they were considering a boycott.

De Burgos Bengoetxea broke down in tears pre-match when he revealed how Madrid's campaign against him had affected his personal life. "When your child goes to school and is told his father is a 'thief' and comes home crying, it's really tough," he said.

"What I'm doing is trying to educate my son, to tell him that his father is honest, that he makes mistakes like any other athlete. It's a real pain, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The day I leave here, I want my son to be proud of what his father was and what refereeing is, which has given us so many values.

"What many of our colleagues are going through, not just in professional football but also in grassroots football, is unfair. Everyone should reflect on where they want to go, what they want from sports and football."

Naturally, Madrid's actions were widely condemned, yet there's no doubt De Burgos Bengoetxea would have been in mind to officiate the game a little differently than he had planned, and no one would be able to blame him. Even despite that, Carlo Ancelotti's side lost fair and square, and still accumulated three red cards. Nice one, lads.

AFPBallon d'Or whinging

The pent-up pettiness ready to burst at the seam had been brewing within Madrid for a while, it's worth noting. There have been week-to-week grievances which have long alluded to this, but the most notable flashpoint over the last 12 months was their handling of the 2024 Ballon d'Or ceremony.

Off the back of winning a Champions League and La Liga double last season, Vinicius Jr was the frontrunner to take home the Golden Ball. There appeared to be brief competition from team-mate Bellingham, though England's defeat to Spain in the final of the European Championship seemed to have ended his hopes.

The stage seemed set for Vinicius to be crowned as the world's best player; it was, many believed, a formality. And then, with under 48 hours before the ceremony in Paris, the whispers began. Rodri, fresh off another Premier League win with Manchester City and having formed a core part of that Spain side which ousted Bellingham and Co, was in the frame. His importance in victories for club and country would have been the top line of his press release for any sort of campaign.

On the morning of October 28, news began to circulate that Rodri had indeed been voted into first place ahead of Vinicius. Madrid made their minds up pretty sharpish – their entourage would no longer fly over to France for the event. Of course, the footballing world didn't look too kindly upon their childish behaviour, with comparisons to Donald Trump among the most pointed judgements.

Getty Images SportKarma comes back around

What's happened to Madrid this season feels a lot like the entire club getting their just desserts. They have already finished as runners-up to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey and Supercopa de Espana, while they trail their Clasico foes by four points in La Liga with five games to go.

Their Champions League demolition at the hands of Arsenal, who are still relatively unexperienced at this level, had the rumblings of an era shift, and the club's longstanding support of the European Super League has lurked in the background like a malignant tumour, too. The late goals which have bailed them out of trouble so many times before have dried up, even despite their increased firepower.

"We put in many crosses, but this year we don't have a pure striker like Joselu, a guy that can win those kind of duels," was Thibaut Courtois' recent assessment of their tactics. Trying to assemble football's Avengers has come at the cost of building a coherent team with structure and purpose (taking Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool won't help this problem, by the way).

There were already more than enough reasons to feel a lack of sympathy for Madrid heading into the Copa final, and now they've made it totally impossible to have any sort of remorse for how their campaign has unfolded.