Dani Carvajal won’t be available for the first leg of Real Madrid’s Round of 16 encounter after UEFA banned the full-back one match for an intentional yellow card he picked up against APOEL last month.

He was initially issued a two-match ban, but Carvajal will only be unavailable for one game after missing Real Madrid’s Champions League encounter with Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.

Carvajal was found guilty of manipulating the match official into producing a yellow card in order to serve a suspension during Real Madrid’s final group-stage match rather than in the knockout phase.

The tactic, which occurred in the final minutes of Real Madrid’s 6-0 win, was a violation of Article 15 in UEFA’s disciplinary code, hence the two-match ban rather than the customary one-match suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards.

Achraf Hakimi, 18, could be in line to replace Carvajal after filling in for the Spanish defender earlier this season.

Real Madrid will discover its Round of 16 opponent at the draw on Dec. 11.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, together again.

Real Madrid’s Portuguese scoring sensation moved level with his perennial Argentine counterpart on Thursday, winning the fifth Ballon d’Or of his illustrious career to equal Messi for the all-time lead.

Ronaldo, 32, captured the honour after a wildly successful 2016-17 campaign saw him lead Real Madrid to a second consecutive Champions League crown, while also spearheading the club’s march to the La Liga title, and subsequently captaining Portugal to 2018 World Cup qualification. He was presented with the award in Paris.

Having gotten his hands on the hardware once again, Ronaldo has now claimed football’s top individual honour in four of the last five years, with Messi last winning the award in 2015. The last time the award was not given to either of those players was Kaka’s 2007 victory.

The Council of Europe is sceptical about FIFA’s appointment of Maria Claudia Rojas, the chairwoman of the Ethics Committee’s Investigatory Chamber.

A report by the human rights organisation argues that Rojas doesn’t have the skills for the job. Written by Anne Brasseur, a representative from Luxembourg who is a member of the Parti Democratique, it states, according to the Guardian’s David Conn: “Also, her lack of knowledge of English and French is a major obstacle, as almost all documents (relevant to the investigations) are in one of these two languages.

“This is not merely a factor that risks slowing her down in her examination of case files … but it also means – and this is much more problematic – that she is more dependent on the (FIFA) secretariat that assists her and that it is objectively difficult for her to enter into confidential contacts with witnesses or experts.”

Cornel Borbely and Hans-Joachim Eckert were omitted from FIFA’s proposal of the members for its judicial bodies in May. The former was the chairman of the Ethics Committee’s Investigatory Chamber and was replaced by Rojas, a judge from Colombia. The omissions reportedly took place while Gianni Infantino, the president of football’s governing body, was under investigation for two alleged instances of malpractice.

The report concluded that, by removing Borbely and Eckert, FIFA undermined the independence of reformed integrity procedures.

“Regretfully, the general feeling is that FIFA Council and Mr. Infantino, in particular, wished to get rid of persons who might have embarrassed them,” Brasseur wrote.

Brasseur referred to Rojas as a professional “of the highest level and of the highest integrity,” but wrote that her job “calls for experience in the field of criminal investigations, especially financial investigations, which Ms. Rojas does not have. She does not really meet the profile of a ‘prosecutor.'”

Per Conn, Borbely was investigating the alleged role of Vitaly Mutko – Russia’s deputy prime minister, the president of the Football Union of Russia, and a member of the Organising Committee for the World Cup – in state-sponsored doping when he was removed by FIFA.

On Monday, Mutko was excluded by the International Olympic Committee from participatin all future Olympic Games. The decision was announced as the Russian Olympic Committee was suspended by the IOC for the systematic manipulation of the anti-doping rules and system in Russia. FIFA said the decision “has no impact on the preparations for the 2018 World Cup.”

FIFA’s decision to remove Cornel Borbely, the chairman of the Ethics Committee’s Investigatory Chamber, reportedly came at a convenient time.

According to the Guardian’s David Conn, FIFA ousted Borbely while he was on the trail of Vitaly Mutko – Russia’s deputy prime minister, president of the Football Union of Russia, and member of the Organising Committee for the World Cup. The Swiss lawyer was apparently examining doping allegations when his tenure was terminated in May.

More specifically, Borbely was allegedly investigating the role of Mutko in state-sponsored doping, and was examining the evidence on Russia and the deputy prime minister’s activities.

On Monday, Mutko was excluded by the International Olympic Committee from any participation in all future Olympic Games. The decision was announced as the Russian Olympic Committee was suspended by the IOC for the systematic manipulation of the anti-doping rules and system in Russia. FIFA said the decision “has no impact on the preparations for the 2018 World Cup.”

Borbely and Hans-Joachim Eckert, who was employed as the chairman of the Ethics Committee’s Adjudicatory Chamber, were omitted from FIFA’s proposal of the members for its judicial bodies, and replaced by Maria Claudia Rojas and Vassilios Skouris, respectively. Conn reported in June that their omissions took place while Gianni Infantino, FIFA president, was under investigation for more than one alleged instance of malpractice. The chairmen complained they were given zero notice their four-year terms wouldn’t be renewed, and were working on “hundreds of cases.”

According to Conn, Mutko faces a ban from football if FIFA agrees with the World Anti-Doping Agency and IOC.