Report: Real Madrid to appeal Ramos' red card

Real Madrid will appeal the decision to hand Sergio Ramos a straight red card in Sunday's El Clasico, reports AS' Alvaro de la Rosa, arguing the club's captain should be cleared because he didn't make contact with Lionel Messi.

Ramos lunged into a challenge with both of his feet in the second half of Barcelona's dramatic 3-2 victory at the Santiago Bernabeu.

If Madrid fails to win the case, Ramos will miss Wednesday's match against Deportivo de la Coruna, leaving manager Zidane Zidane with Nacho as his only fit centre-back for the trip to Riazor. Raphael Varane has struggled with a hamstring injury, while Pepe suffered a pair of fractured ribs.

In a post-match report obtained by AS, referee Alejandro Jose Hernandez Hernandez said Ramos used "excessive force while challenging for the ball." Messi ducked out of the way in time to escape what could have been a brutal injury.

Ramos claimed in the aftermath that he would "never intentionally set out to hurt a fellow player" and that his frustration was aimed at Gerard Pique, not Hernandez Hernandez.

That's why Ramos avoided more than a one-match suspension, unlike Neymar, who earned a three-match ban after he sarcastically applauded a red card he received earlier this month.