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Barcelona have appealed the red card shown to Ferran Torres following an altercation with Atletico Madrid defender Stefan Savic in an attempt ‘minimise’ the length and reach of any ban.
Torres was given his marching orders in stoppage time of the narrow Barcelona win, with referee Jose Luis Munuera Montero showing both players involved red cards.
The 22-year-old Barça forward didn’t start the game and had only come off the bench in the second half. He had barely touched the ball in just over half an hour, although fortunately for his team being reduced to 10 players had no impact on the final result.
Mundo Deportivo has reported that Barcelona consulted legal services to review footage of the incident and subsequently presented a case pleading a ‘light sentence’.
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It has not been disclosed exactly what grounds the Catalans have appealed on, but they are said to be confident Torres will receive a short ban only relevant to La Liga and with no bearing on the Supercopa de Espana coming up this week.
Barça made several unsuccessful appeals against the length of the suspension that Robert Lewandowski got hit with following a gesture alleged to be aimed at the referee when he was sent off during a win over Osasuna in November.
Lewandowski was absent for the Atletico game, serving the first of a three-game suspension. But his ban only applies to La Liga, meaning is eligible for the Supercopa in which Barça face Real Betis in the semi-finals in Saudi Arabia on Thursday evening.
