OUSMANE DEMBELE will miss El Clasico on October 26 after being slapped with a two-game ban for insulting referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz.
The Barcelona winger was sent off in the recent 4-0 win against Sevilla after confronting the official who had just shown a red card to his team-mate Ronald Araujo.
Araujo was sent off just 13 minutes into his debut for hauling down Javier Hernandez, which led Barca players to surround the ref.
In the referee's official report, he stated that Dembele, 22, told him: "Very bad, you're very bad."
He then brandished the French international his second yellow card of the game.
Lionel Messi came to the defence of Dembele, claiming he is still struggling to get a grasp of the Spanish language.
He said: "It surprised us that (Lahoz) understood so clearly because the truth is that it’s still hard for Ousmane to speak Spanish.”
Dembele's actions would usually result in just a one-match ban, but the Royal Spanish Football Federation have had handed out harsher punishments in recent times.
Diego Costa was handed an eight-game ban last season for verbally abusing a referee, while the likes of Michael Krohn-Deli, Gabriel Pires and Fabian Orellana were given two-match bans for insulting officials.
Barca had appealed against Dembele's ban, but officials have dismissed their case.
The ex-Borussia Dortmund star will now miss the upcoming fixtures against Eibar and Real Madrid.
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