Marlon Santos was not included in the squad for the game against Hercules because of a bureaucratic problem which arose at the last minute. The Brazilian centre-back was set to make the trip to Alicante with the first team, although the federation advised that breaking any of the rules could have serious consequences.

The key to the Marlon case rests in one of the RFEF's rules: "Players registered in the reserve team can only line up for different teams to the one they are registered with if their registration with the reserve team was processed within the inscription period."

Marlon's case is considered an anomalous situation. Barça did register the player before Aug. 31, although the truth is that the processing of said registration was left pending various documents which were in the process of being processed. The signing of the paperwork came after the stipulated date.

The ridiculous element of this case is that Marlon's appearance in the Champions League against Celtic did not break UEFA rules, but it does go against rules domestically in Spain. If he'd played against Real Sociedad at Anoeta -- and at one point he looked set to come on for Gerard Pique -- there could have been serious consequences.

Sources close to the footballer say that no one from FC Barcelona informed them of any irregularities and possible bureaucratic problems.