UEFA have told Real Madrid that they will not be registering both Lassana Diarra and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar for the Champions League this season, as they cannot make exceptions.
Real Madrid might well have signed both Lassana Diarra and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar this winter but they will not both be playing in the Champions League next season.
Just a few hours after Los Blancos chief, Ramón Calderón, said that he believes his club might be able to bend the rules, the European governing body has told AS that no such thing will happen.
Due to the rules in the competition, the Spanish side can only register one of their new players for the upcoming knockout stages, and UEFA spokesman, William Galliard, said there will be no festive gifts for Real Madrid.
"What is normal is written down in the laws, and Real Madrid will only be able to choose one player," he declared.
"To change a rule in the middle of a competition is something that should not be done, because what Madrid are basically asking for is a new rule."
"To make an exception for Real Madrid would be to cater for individual needs of a club and that would begin an endless chain of favours. Many changes would be made, that would end up altering the spirit of the competition."
Despite ruling it out for this year though, Galliard did not completely rule out a change in the laws, that could be brought into effect for the next season.
"For anything to happen will have to wait until the end of the season," he mused.
"It is something that we will be able to study then, but there is an unwritten rule that laws are not changed in the middle of competitions."