Barcelona to appeal against Mascherano red card

Catalan football giants Barcelona will appeal against the red card shown to midfielder Javier Mascherano in the La Liga clash against Eibar, an official at the club said.

"There is a difference between what he really said and what it says in the referee's report," Efe quoted Barcelona's director of professional sport, Albert Soler as saying on Monday, noting that the report of referee Del Cerro Grande on what the player told one of the assistant referees, is false.

According to the report, Mascherano was sent off 82 minutes into the game for insulting an assistant referee by using a term relating to his mother, when in fact, according to Soler, it concerned his sister.

The vice president responsible for the sports area of Barcelona, Jordi Mestre, considered that the term used by the Argentinian international was "no more than an act of frustration and that he never had any intention of insulting anyone" but was skeptical about the success of the appeal.

"It is our legal and moral duty to present an appeal in order to defend the player," he said.