Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 7y

Real Madrid to lodge appeal against Sergio Ramos red vs. Barca - report

Real Madrid are to appeal Sergio Ramos' sending off for his challenge on Lionel Messi in Sunday's 3-2 loss to Barcelona in a bid to have him free to play at Deportivo La Coruna on Wednesday, according to AS.

Ramos was shown a straight red card by referee Alejandro Jose Hernandez Hernandez after leaping in two-footed at Messi, who jumped out of the way to avoid any serious contact being made.

The official's report said the defender used "excessive force" in "knocking over his opponent," and AS reported that Madrid feel that this does not accurately reflect what happened, therefore no further punishment should be served.

Ramos' availability for upcoming matches is especially important as coach Zinedine Zidane has had only two fit centre-backs available recently, although Raphael Varane has stepped up his recovery from a hamstring injury and could be in the squad to face Deportivo.

Another complicating factor is the extra two-game ban handed out to Barca forward Neymar for disrespecting officials after being red carded at Malaga in April, which saw the Brazil international miss the Clasico despite his club's best efforts to make him available.

Ramos has claimed that his angry words after being shown the red card on Sunday were aimed at Barca defender Gerard Pique and at no time did he say anything untoward to Hernandez Hernandez.

Amid the continuing fallout to Sunday's game, former Madrid coach Fabio Capello told Fox Sports Italia that Ramos' challenge was "red, red, red. That's red every single day."

Ex-Madrid defender Manolo Sanchis took a different view when asked about the incident on Spanish radio show El Partidazo, saying that the challenge looked much worse than it really was.

"Sergio Ramos' challenge is very spectacular, but he does not touch Messi," Sanchis said. "It is about a yellow. It was a very difficult action to referee."

Sanchis also claimed that an elbow from Madrid left-back Marcelo early in the game, which knocked Messi to the floor and drew blood from his mouth, had been a "movement of protection."

"You would have to ask Marcelo," he said. "His elbow did not seem to me like an aggressive act, it was more a movement of protection."

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