An interesting story erupted in Spain after Real Madrid beat Levante 2-1, directly involving the elbow landed into the eye of Cristiano Ronaldo by David Navarro, later also involving Sergio Ballesteros and of course boy scout Pepe into the incidents as well.

One version of the story is this: While Cristiano Ronaldo was getting stitched up by the doctor, Sergio Ballesteros, the 37 year old captain of Levante, standing with just a towel to his waist, all 188 centimeters of him (and possibly just as wide), stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him. Besides Ronaldo, the doctor and Ballesteros, Pepe was also in the room, and Ballesteros was there for him. According to the Real Madrid story, the Levante captain punched Pepe after putting his hand on his throat.

The Levante version? I only went there to see and ask if Cristiano was OK, and it got a bit messy because it seems I’m not allowed to be there.

According to Levante players, Pepe celebrated the hard earned, wet victory by dancing in the doorway of their dressing room, trying to be as neutral and lovable as he always is, just like he enjoyed taunting the Levante fans earlier on the pitch. According to Juanlu of Levante, this isn’t the first time they’ve had these problems with Pepe. And there’s always time for some conspiracy theories.

It’s obvious that they couldn’t let the title end so soon. The referee gave everything their way. If you analyse the whole game you’ll see it, every decision: grain by grain, you create a mountain. He was winking at them, smiling and patting them on the back.

According to Sergio Ramos, it’s all Ballesteros’ fault: When it comes to Ballesteros, it’s not the first time. If he doesn’t like this sport, he can take up boxing. There are people that don’t know how to accept defeat. We went into the dressing room but there’s always one. You get tired of it because it’s not the first time, you get tired of it and you think the unsporting people should stay out of it.

The whole encounter ended with the police arriving and shutting Real Madrid in the dressing room until they removed Ballesteros from there. Now it’s all about a game of allegations and denials from both sides. It’s easy to believe both accusations about both players – Pepe trying to wind up the Levante fans and players, Ballesteros going into the dressing room for more than just a cordial visit. What’s the truth? Somewhere in the middle.

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