The Appeal Committee of the Spanish Football Federation has rejected Barcelona's appeal in an effort to have the Brazilian free to play El Clásico on Sunday. Neymar's sanction includes a one-match ban for the sending off against Málaga, and a further two matches for applauding the fourth official on his way to the changing room.

The club's judicial strategy was to let the amount of time they had to appeal the decision (10 days) before lodging an appeal on the final day and letting TAD take over and hope that they investigate, which would allow him to play in El Clásico.

If the TAD, who meet on Friday, do happen to grant an injunction, Neymar would be free to play El Clásico until his appeal is heard. If not, he would continue by serving the second game of his ban against the league leaders, Real Madrid.

Barça fight Neymar's corner

Barcelona are fighting against the two-game suspension for applauding the referee's assistant but their version of events suggests that Neymar never once disagreed with the ref's decision to send him off and that there was never any reason to applaud the fourth official as he had nothing to do with the decision taken by the referee.

In their appeal, Barcelona expressed "concern over the clear and unacceptable pressure on the part of some of the communications media, and their efforts to impede the committee from resolving the questions raised. There exists an unequivocal interest in public opinion for the player to not play El Clásico."

The committee, however, dismissed these allegations as they were under the impression that Barça presented no evidence, "not videographic or any other type," that would support their version of what happened.