Barcelona's Neymar banned for Clasico against Real

Neymar was sent off as Barcelona's title hopes suffered a jolt reverse having a 2-0 defeat against Malaga in Saturday's LaLiga encounter at La Rosaleda.

Barcelona star Neymar will miss El Clasico on April 23 after receiving a three-match ban following his red card against Malaga.

However, Barca were also infuriated with referee Gil Manzano when he somehow awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box when Sergi Roberto had been brought down clearly inside the area.

And things went from bad to worse subsequent to the period having another booking for Neymar - his first red card in LaLiga - following a risky foul on Diego Llorente near the corner flag.

Barcelona are expected to appeal the ruling, the club had previously tried to defend Neymar by saying that he didn't directly address the assistant and never yelled or touched any member of the match officials.

He changed his footwear whilst play was ongoing in Barca's two previous games against Granada and Sevilla, leaving his side temporarily down to 10 men.

FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi, left, and Neymar da Silva from Brazil, right, gesture during their match against CF Malaga in a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Malaga and Barcelona in Malaga, Spain, Saturday April 8, 2017. The report continued to say that after Neymar was dismissed and traveling to the players' tunnel, he "applauded in the direction of the fourth official".

Barcelona's Liga title hopes were left in tatters after a shock 2-0 loss to Malaga that was marred by a number of bad calls by the match officials.

"I think the interpretation of the yellow cards is special", said the Barcelona manager.

Luis Enrique's side are now three points behind Madrid, having played one game, and the coach claimed some some of the yellow cards given at Malaga were "special" and "curious".

"There was some very ugly tackles from behind from their team, which didn't see them get booked and others committed by us which were given yellows".

By defeating its rival, Barcelona, Malaga has given Real Madrid a gift. I can't fault the team, we gave it our all.

Sandro exposed some terrible defending from Jeremy Mathieu to sprint clear on goal and slot past MarcAndre ter Stegen at his near post in the 32nd minute to give Malaga the lead.

Osasuna are then due at Camp Nou before the Catalan derby at Espanyol, and both are games which Neymar could also miss if he is given a four-game ban.