Norwich City plan to appeal Borja Sainz’s red card in a damaging 3-1 Championship defeat on Wednesday night against Middlesbrough on Teesside.

The Canaries’ play-off tilt took a hit when Sainz was dismissed for tangling with former City midfielder Jonny Howson just past the half-hour mark.

The Spaniard is now set to miss four games of the run-in after a sending off for violent conduct, following on from his red card at West Brom on Boxing Day.

Sainz took exception to a lunging challenge from Howson, who made the most of the contact on his upper thigh from the grounded Norwich player’s legs.

Wagner opted for a diplomatic response in his post-match reaction, ahead of an appeal he hopes ensures Sainz is available for Rotherham’s weekend visit.

“I have seen it back but to be fair I don’t like to give any comments. It looks like we will appeal and this speaks for itself,” he said. “I know that sometimes the angle and the vision on the pitch from the referee can be different, and you can see it in your way when sometimes the decision is not the right one. He gave the red card because he has seen something.

"So we will appeal it and we hope we are successful. We are very short in wide numbers anyway, with Borja out as well. We had a similar situation last season with Marquinhos, we appealed it, and we were successful but I want to leave it to the people in our club who are responsible for this. I have heard it will be four games.

“Everybody who knows him knows that that is something which he would not do on purpose. If you see the video footage there is always a question is it active movement or it only happens because of the dynamic of the situation? This is I think what you have to decide.”

Ashley Barnes had put Norwich 1-0 up before Sainz’s first half exit but Boro roared back for only a second win in nine.

“A tough night, a frustrating result,” said Wagner. “Frustrating last 60 minutes of the game and a fantastic first 30 minutes.

"One of our best away performances so far. We totally controlled and dominated our opponent - smart on the counter press, good on our rest defence - we got the lead, had the chance to score even more with Ashley’s clear-cut chance and then the red card changed the game totally, and this is what was so frustrating.”