Barcelona vs. Real Madrid: Pepe Must Be Disciplined for Stomping Lionel Messi

Wednesday's match between Barcelona and Real Madrid consisted of two things we've long since come to associate with El Clasico: great football and a bit of gamesmanship on both sides.

Then, there was the maneuver that Real defender Pepe pulled late in the match, which can be classified neither as great football nor as gamesmanship. It was a cheap shot.

If you missed it, Pepe got away with a clear stomp on Lionel Messi's hand while he was lying on the pitch. Since I don't feel up to describing the incident in great detail, do yourself a favor and watch the video of it.

Admittedly, it doesn't look all that bad at first glance. It looks like Pepe was merely making his way around Messi when Messi's left hand happened to get in the way.

When you view it a second time, though, it looks more like a stomp.

View it a third time, and it's clearly a stomp.

Pepe should have gotten a red card for the stomp, but the referee's attention was elsewhere. Luckily, Wayne Rooney was paying attention.

On the bright side (unless you pull for Real Madrid), Messi got his revenge mere minutes later, setting up Eric Abidal for the go-ahead score with a brilliant pass. Barcelona escaped with a 2-1 victory.

But the Pepe saga may not be done, nor should it be done. He may not have gotten a red card, but he could still be disciplined. Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho said so himself.

“If it’s intentional, then it’s punishable,” Mourinho said after the match of Pepe's stomp, according to the Associated Press.

There's no "if" about it in this case. It was a blatant stomp, and it was certainly malicious. If that kind of act isn't worth discipline, what is?

To be sure, it's not like Pepe should be banned 10 matches, which was the penalty he received for attacking Javi Casquero and Juan Albin back in 2009. Stomping on a player's hand isn't quite as bad as pushing a player to the ground, kicking him while he's down and then striking another player in the face.

Nevertheless, a one-match ban might be in order for Pepe, and possibly worse. It depends on what Mourinho makes of the situation.

Assuming Mourinho isn't suddenly struck blind before reviewing the footage for himself, I expect he'll see the same thing everyone else saw, and he won't tolerate it.