Luis Enrique questions red card shown to Neymar in Malaga defeat

Luis Enrique has accused the match officials of wrongly dismissing Neymar in Barcelona's shock 2-0 defeat to Malaga at La Rosaleda on Saturday evening.

The Brazilian forward was shown a second yellow 66 minutes into the match for a shoulder barge on Diego Llorente, following on from an earlier caution awarded for preventing the opposition from taking a quick free kick.

Neymar, who had never previously been sent off in his Barcelona career, was adjudged to have deliberately held up play by tying up his laces a few yards in front of where the set piece was awarded.

Speaking after the match, Enrique is quoted by Marca as saying: "What I do believe is that the interpretation of the yellow card was special.

"We have to be careful in some games because I think there have been ugly challenges where [Malaga] clearly deserved a card, whereas [Neymar] is tying his shoelaces... well. We react well to these moments, we have to react well to it all."

Barcelona now find themselves three points adrift of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga after missing out on their big chance to draw level at the summit.