In 2010–11, Albiol was relegated to the bench as Real Madrid brought in another player for his position, Ricardo Carvalho (a compatriot of newly appointed manager José Mourinho), only appearing in the league through injury or suspension to teammates (Pepe again missed several matches due to physical problems); he did start, however, in the club's domestic cup run. On 26 January 2011, in the semi-final first leg against Sevilla FC (1–0 away victory), he cleared a Luís Fabiano shot just before it crossed the goal line. On 16 April, he was sent off for fouling former Valencia teammate David Villa inside the box during "El Clásico", which resulted in the first goal in a 1–1 league home draw, going on to miss the Copa final four days later – through suspension – a 1–0 win against the same opponent.