Real Madrid have been thrown out of the Copa del Rey after they used an ineligible player in Wednesday's last-32, first leg match at third-tier Cadiz.
Real included Denis Cheryshev in their starting lineup for the match and the Russia forward opened the scoring in his side's 3-1 victory, even though he should have been serving a one-match suspension.
Spanish radio station Cadena Ser, which did not identify the source of its information, said the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) had told Cadiz of the decision to expel Real, who had said they would appeal if they were thrown out of the competition.
Cheryshev's early strike was followed up by two from Isco before Kike Marquez grabbed a late consolation for their third-tier opponents.
That set Real up for what was likely to be a routine second-leg clash at the Bernabeu, but Cadiz will now go through after all following the costly blunder.
Last season Osasuna were kicked out of the tournament for playing an ineligible player, while Benitez was in charge of Valencia when they were disqualified from the Copa del Rey having played too many non-EU players in a tie in 2001.
