La Liga: Messi escapes red card as Barcelona slips on title chance

FC Barcelona only managed to save a point against Sevilla, giving Real Madrid a chance at the title.

The Spanish La Liga title is up for grabs and Real Madrid is ready to pounce. FC Barcelona only managed to salvage a point as they were held to a goalless draw against Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium on Friday night. While there wasn't much happening between the posts, a major talking point of the evening came from Lionel Messi's altercation with Sevilla's Diego Carlos.

Just before the half, Diego Carlos was able to stop Messi's attack as he cleared the ball before the latter could get within striking distance. The typically composed Argentine got a little more frustrated than usual and confronted his opponent with what appeared to be a push or a punch. Carlos could be seen falling to the ground while his teammate, Dutch striker Luuk De Jong watched the scene unfold in front of him.

De Jong lifted his arms in protest, just as Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets arrived to back their captain. The rest of the players congregated on the scene, resulting in a mass scuffle. In the end, the referee decided not to hand Messi any punishment, which infuriated a number of viewers. Many took to social media to question the decision.

The refereeing in that instant was lol. Messi should have been sent off or at least, carded. It does call to question if referees should have full recourse to their own personal judgement alone in player altercations. Like does a push deserve a card just because it isn't in game?
— lysenko (@blokirati) June 20, 2020

"I can't believe Messi didn't get a red or a yellow today for that push on the Sevilla Player... If Messi kills someone he would still be protected smh," read one Tweet.

The most protect player ever, as long its messi even he kick, chock, push other player, it wont even get yellow card. Cause his son of refereee n fifa federation..
— Ahmadjunaedi (@Ahmadjunaedi107) June 20, 2020

Meanwhile, with the lone point from their efforts on Friday, Barcelona now stands with only a three-point lead on top of the La Liga table. Real Madrid only needs to win their match against Real Sociedad on Sunday to claim the top spot.

The bitter rivals will be level on points, but even with a superior goal difference overall, Barcelona will end up second due to their head-to-head results. The La Liga is unique in this case, as most other leagues consider goal difference first.

In other words, the ghosts of this season's El Clasico encounters will haunt Barcelona. The first clash ended with a goalless draw, but Barcelona lost 2-0 on the second Clasico of the season. Because of this, the defending champions could lose the title if the points remain level for the remainder of the season.