NEYMAR WAS SENT off as Barcelona’s title hopes suffered a shock setback with a 2-0 defeat against Malaga in Saturday’s La Liga encounter at La Rosaleda.
Luis Enrique’s men would have moved level on points with Real Madrid with a win following the capital side’s earlier draw against Atletico Madrid, but the Catalans endured a miserable evening as they returned home empty-handed instead.
Sandro Ramirez dealt his former club’s hopes of going top of the league a blow before the break when he made the most of some poor defending from Jeremy Mathieu.
And things went from bad to worse after the interval with a second booking for Neymar – his first red card in LaLiga – following a reckless foul on Diego Llorente near the corner flag.
Jony then added a second in stoppage time at the end of counter-attack as the champions chased a way back into the game that never materialised.
