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DTotD: Sergio Busquets treads on Pepe's head during El Clasico

(Twitter/@RMadridMan)

Passions always run high during El Clasico and Sunday evening's thrilling encounter between Real Madrid and Barcelona was no exception.

Tempers threatened to boil over on several occasions during the Blaugrana's 4-3 victory at the Bernabeu and the referee was forced to brandish a few cards. Sergio Ramos, for example, earned the 13th red card of the last 14 Clasicos — and the 19th dismissal of his career — after bringing down Neymar with the lightest of touches in the 63rd minute.

One controversial incident involving Sergio Busquets and Pepe, however, was completely overlooked by the officials.

When Leo Messi scored the first goal of his hat-trick in the 42nd minute, a small melee broke out in the penalty area, in which Pepe and Cesc Fabregas touched heads and then fell to the ground as if they had been mortally wounded. Both were booked for the fracas and Twitter bard Joey Barton was paticularly unimpressed with the Madrid defender.

Yet as Pepe lay on the ground in feigned agony, Busquets appeared to stamp on the Madrid defender's head:

It's unclear if Busquets meant to place his studs on his opponents face in retaliation for the "headbutt" that had just occurred, or whether he was simply pushed off balance during the scuffle. Given the Barca midfielder's track record of deception, there really is no way of telling.

Either way, Busquets will have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of his life and possibly go into witness protection — you don't put your boots on the face of the angriest man in the world without some kind of painful retribution.

This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events.

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Ryan Bailey

is a writer for Dirty Tackle on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!