BARCELONA
Dembélé and Araújo sent off during Barcelona win over Sevilla
The pair were sent off and Piqué is suspended for the Eibar game after picking up a yellow with El Clásico around the corner as Valverde left with a selection problem.
Ronald Araújo made his debut for Barcelona against Sevilla on Sunday night in placed of the fatigued Jean-Clair Todibo. He was sent off just 16 minutes laters, however, for a pull on Javier Hernández' jersey. The ball was played through to the Mexican and from referee Mateu Lahoz' vantage point, it looked like he pulled back the attacker.
During the commotion that ensued, Ousmane Dembélé was shown a straight red card too with the pair likely to miss the Eibar game and El Clásico a week after. Reports in Spain suggest the French attacker said something to Mateu Lahoz to feel his ire. Sergio Busquets was also booked for something he said to the referee after the incident.
Dembélé tells the referee he is "very bad"
In the referee's report, Dembélé reportedly said "you are very bad. Very very bad" while waving his hands in the referee's direction.
Gerard Piqué was also booked for kicking the ball away in the second half and will miss the Eibar game for an accumulation of yellows cards. Clément Lenglet will return for that game but it leaves Ernesto Valverde with a headache should Todibo miss out although if he was just tired in what was his first start of the season, that won't be an issue.
In a relatively easy win for Barça, the red cards could make the run into the Clásico more complicated than it needed to be for Ernesto Valverde. Dembélé, who has suffered from persistent injuries since joining the club, was excellent and scored a goal in the first half but it looks like he will miss a couple of games, at least, depending on what the referee puts in his match report.