"Vini is kicked, booed, insulted... there is no player as persecuted as he is"

Ancelotti said that Bellingham's two-match ban for his dismissal at the end of the game at the Mestalla for his protests against Gil Manzano "is not correct", insisted that there was no insult to the referee and hoped that "they have not taken the English player's licence plate".

"We have appealed because we think the sanction is exaggerated," explained Ancelotti on Real Madrid's appeal to the Tribunal Administrativo del Deporte (TAD) to have Bellingham's sanction reduced.

"It was not an insult, as it was also written in the minutes. They assessed the aggressive way he approached the referee. I hope they didn't take it out on him because Bellingham in particular is a player who may protest at times, like everyone else, many in a more exaggerated way than him. We still think the sanction is not correct," he added.

Bellingham was sent off at Mestalla after seeing his goal, which gave Real Madrid the win, not go in because the referee blew the final whistle on Brahim Diaz's cross. Gil Manzano said in the minutes that the England midfielder protested "in an aggressive and shouting attitude, repeating 'it's a f*ck*ng goal' on several occasions.

Moreover, he defended Vinicius: "I've looked back a bit and I haven't found a player who has been persecuted like him. He gets kicked, he gets booed, he gets insulted. What does he have to do? He scores goals and gives assists. Everyone needs to change their attitude towards him".

"It has never happened that a very talented player suffers these things. In Vallecas, Vinicius was given a karate chop to the head and there was no yellow card and now they are asking for a red card for a push against RB Leipzig. When assessing things, we can't look at the shirts," he said.