Lionel Messi did his best to save French striker Ousmane Dembele from a red card in Bareclona's clash with Sevilla blaming the Spanish of his Camp Nou colleague.
Dembele was dismissed during the latter stages of the La Liga fixture on Sunday.
There were just two minutes left on the clock when the international winger was given his marching orders.
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It came just 60 seconds after debutant Ronald Araujo was also dismissed in Barca's 4-0 win.
Messi had hoped to avoid seeing Dembele join Araujo in heading down the tunnel, with the World Cup winner accused of verbally abusing match referee Miguel Antonio Mateu Lahoz.