Barcelona vs Eibar: Luis Enrique defends Mascherano as he could miss El Clasico

The good news is that Barcelona was able to defeat Eibar 3-1, the bad news is that they lost Javier Mascherano and his suspension could extend all the way up until El Clasico, four games from now. The Argentinian reportedly told the official ·the c*** of your mother" and now Luis Enrique stepped up to defend him.

Barcelona was already winning 2-1 with less than ten minutes to go in the game. Then, something did not seem right in the eyes of Mascherano who confronted the linesman and reportedly insulted him. Moments later, he was sent off from the game and "Lucho" was not happy.

5 words may have caused a lot of trouble for Mascherano

Mascherano could be suspended for 4 games (Villanovense, Getafe, Villarreal, Madrid) for insulting linesman #fcblive [via cope]

— barcastuff (@barcastuff) October 25, 2015

"Mascherano said 'la concha de tu madre' - it is a typical Argentine expression like we say here 'los cojones' or something like that. You have to see if he said that to the referee or just to the air." Luis Enrique said after the game.

In Barcelona's manager point of view, the referee did not apply the same criteria throughout the game. He felt that some of Eibar's players were allowed to do a more physical game than his own players.

"A hard team like Eibar could have seen more cards. This is something usual and we have to improve this. Mascherano didn't talk to the referee, he said something normal in a football match," Luis Enrique added.

Barcelona supporters have faith that his player won't get punished

Three hours after game, referee report not yet published. Normally published 30-60 min after game. Mascherano insult reports based on leak.

— barcastuff (@barcastuff) October 25, 2015

So, Mascherano's red card is for complaining or saying something bad to the ref? Players like Ramos can do this... pic.twitter.com/XWuMiEkJiX

— Jojo Culé (@jperkovic93) October 25, 2015

Dani Garcia (Eibar): "The Argentines in our team say what Mascherano said a 1000 times every training. A red card for that, don't know..."

— barcastuff (@barcastuff) October 25, 2015

This whole mess shadowed Luis Suarez hat-trick. The Uruguayan striker scored all three of Barcelona's goals and now is in a triple tie for second with the most amount of goals in the season with seven. His coach called him "irreplaceable".

Luis Enrique recognized that what his defender said may be part of just the adrenaline of the game. Something similar happened to Pique in the Spanish Supercopa. That time, the Spanish international received a four-game suspension.

"We have to try not to fall into this but it is complicated during a football match," Lucho said.