Dani Alves Red Card: Details, Twitter Reaction from Barcelona vs. Rayo Vallecano

Dani Alves was handed a straight red card in Barcelona’s demolition of Rayo Vallecano on Sunday, as he was adjudged to have hauled down Alberto Bueno and denied him a clear goalscoring opportunity inside the box, per ESPN FC: 

Bueno dusted himself down and netted the spot-kick to reduce Vallecano’s deficit to 5-1, but the decision was a very contentious one.

Alves appeared to win the ball from Bueno, but the same old question remains—did he take the ball or the man first?

Well, Football Association writer Gary Stonehouse believes that Alves was a little hard done by:

It was a clumsy and unnecessary challenge from the Brazilian, that much is clear, and the implications are that he’ll miss next week’s clash with Eibar.

There was initial panic that Alves would miss El Clasico on March 22, including from BT Sport’s Archie Rhind-Tutt, but he’ll only be sitting out for the one match:

That would be OK for Barcelona manager Luis Enrique to deal with, but Jordi Alba’s booking earlier in the match means that he’ll also miss Saturday’s trip to Ipurua Municipal, as Bleacher Report’s Sam Tighe revealed:

That means that Enrique will need to field two stand-in full-backs against Eibar, although their respective returns for the visit of Real Madrid is somewhat of a silver lining.

Finally, comedian Nooruddean put a spin on the Alves decision, saying that he deserved his dismissal for his, let’s say, different taste in fashion:

Barca went on to win 6-1 against Vallecano, with Luis Suarez adding his second goal to Lionel Messi’s hat-trick and Gerard Pique’s goal at the death.

That just sums up Enrique’s side at the moment—they’re quite simply irresistible whenever they’re in action.

With or without Alves and Alba, Eibar and indeed Real Madrid should be worried.