Carvajal: Ramos red card defined Clasico and Madrid loss to Barca

Dani Carvajal lamented Sergio Ramos' red card in
the last-gasp defeat to Barcelona, feeling the
incident defined the Clasico as Real Madrid lost top
spot in LaLiga.
Captain Ramos was sent off in the second half of
Madrid's dramatic 3-2 loss at home to bitter rivals
and titleholders Barcelona in the Spanish capital on
Sunday.
Ramos saw red for a two-footed challenge on
Messi with 13 minutes remaining and the five-time
Ballon d'Or winner came back to haunt Madrid
after settling the Clasico in the second minute of
stoppage time.
Barca's win erased Madrid's three-point lead atop
the table and full-back Carvajal was less than
impressed.
"The sending off defined the game," Carvajal said
post-match.
"We had managed to draw level and in the last
passage of play we failed and have lost the game.
The game had been end to end and we didn't have
any luck."
Madrid stormed out of the blocks at the Santiago
Bernabeu, Casemiro the unlikely scorer of the
game's opening goal in the 28th minute.
Messi hit back within five minutes however, as
Barca eventually took a 2-1 lead via Ivan Rakitic
with 17 minutes remaining.
Just as Barca looked set to stun the Madrid faithful,
James Rodriguez came off the bench and equalised
in the 85th minute, only for Messi to pop up and
score his 500th goal for the Catalan giants.
Carvajal added: "You have to congratulate them for
the victory, but there is still a lot of the league left,
we have played a game less and we have to make
the most of it.
"Messi had a good game.
"The team has fought and had chances, we have to
be calm and keep battling because we can still
depend on only ourselves."