WHAT HAPPENED?
Veteran Argentine centre-half Cabral clashed with Germany international Rudiger towards the end of a Club World Cup clash in Charlotte. Insults were exchanged as an unsightly melee broke out.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Rudiger, who returned to action with Real after injury when stepping off the bench in North Carolina, accused Cabral of aiming racist comments in his direction. The 39-year-old South American insists that was not the case.
GettyWHAT CABRAL SAID?
Cabral told reporters after seeing Pachuca suffer a 3-1 defeat against 10-man Real: “It was an argument. The referee signalled racism, but nothing happened. It's a word we use a lot in Argentina: 'sh*tty coward'. I kept telling him the same thing. If you want to look up the word, in the image you'll see that I'm constantly telling him 'f*cking coward, get up'.”
Cabral added that Rudiger said to him “I’ll see you outside”, before adding that the pair were “arguing in the tunnel, but it didn't go any further”.
DID YOU KNOW?
Madrid boss Xabi Alonso said when asked about the incident: “We support Toni. We'll see. Now the FIFA protocol will be activated and they will investigate. If this happened, we support Antonio; it's unacceptable. There's no tolerance for that.”
Pachuca coach Jaime Lozano backed his skipper, saying at a post-match press conference: “I'll talk to him, and knowing him from before, things like that have never happened with Pachuca players. I can vouch for my captain.”
GettyWHAT NEXT?
Cabral spent time in Spain with Levante and Celta Vigo before joining Mexican outfit Pachuca in 2019. His latest outing resulted in defeat against Real despite Los Blancos having Raul Asencio sent off inside the opening seven minutes.