The Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos has denied he meant to elbow Barcelona star Lionel Messi in the final minutes of the first half of the Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu, on Saturday.
Barcelona beat Real Madrid for the second time in four days with a one-nil win.
The clash between the two players happened when Ramos threw the ball past Messi but appeared to throw his arm into Messi’s face knocking him to the ground.
The two players faced each other as Messi reacted angrily with blood in his mouth but Madrid's defender did not receive any punishment.
After the game, Ramos said, “Messi took a bad knock but it was totally involuntary. There was nothing bad between us and it just happened,” according to Spanish news website “Sport”.
With this result, Barca ended Madrid’s title hopes and also changed history: they have now beaten Madrid more times than vice versa - 96 to 95 across 242 official Clasicos, Sport said.