Ferdinand asks for late change to pitchside set at Bernabeu after refusing to stand on Real badge

Rio Ferdinand ordered a late change to the BT Sport pitch set at the Bernabeu ahead of Real Madrid’s clash with Chelsea.

Ferdinand posted a video on his social media explaining that the court table for the live broadcast was placed directly in front of the Real Madrid crest on the floor.

Manchester United legend and fellow pundit Joe Cole refused to step on top to avoid disrespect to the Spanish giants.

He said, “I think we should have a talk here, Coley… what are they asking us to do, mate?”

Cole responded by saying, “They’re asking us to be on the Real Madrid crest. You can’t man!’

Rio Ferdinand was dissatisfied with the arrangement of the field in the Bernabeu on Wednesday evening

Ferdinand then clarified that they were reorganizing the set, adding, “This is where we wanted to be. We have to speak to the floor manager and have a word, we can’t do that. We’re going to roll it up so we’re not on the badge.”

Cole then joked that they “didn’t want to poke the bear” with signs of disrespect for the kickoff.

The incident came 24 hours after Joao Cancelo chose not to be on Manchester City’s badge when he first returned to the club.

The Portuguese youngster was back in Manchester following his move to Bayern Munich in January.

Holders Real Madrid eased to a comfortable 2-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

The visitors were already trailing at the Bernabeu when Ben Chilwell was shown a red card for a foul on Real striker Rodrygo just before the hour mark after Karim Benzema scored his 89th goal of the league to put his side ahead during the peace.

At that stage, Chelsea looked happy to have escaped one goal behind on Tuesday in the run-up to the second leg, but Real doubled the scope of their task when Marco Asensio fired in 16 minutes from time.