SHARE
COPY LINK

FOOTBALL

Zlatan to miss Milan derby despite ban cut

Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic's ban for violent conduct was on Friday reduced from three games to two but the Sweden forward will still miss next weekend's Milan derby.

Zlatan to miss Milan derby despite ban cut

The AC Milan striker was sent off two weeks ago for striking Bari’s Marco Rossi in the ribs, after which he copped the expected and regulation three-game ban.

But Milan appealed and the Federal Court of Justice decided to reduce his ban by a game.

He has already served one game of his suspension, in which he was sorely missed as Milan lost 1-0 against a Palermo side that had lost their previous five matches.

He will still miss the derby on April 2nd at the San Siro, in which Milan are the nominal hosts, but will be free to return for the trip to Fiorentina a week later, thus greatly boosting Milan’s title hopes.

Ibrahimovic was originally banned for having “deliberately hit” Rossi off the ball, which was nowhere near the pair at the time.

But the reduction was given as Milan’s lawyer Leandro Cantamessa successfully argued that the referee’s opinion of how far away the ball was, was subjective and that Ibrahimovic’s strike could conceivably have been delivered with the aim of pushing Rossi away from the ball so that he would have a greater chance of winning it.

Having reduced Ibrahimovic’s ban, the Federal Court of Justice also decided to knock off one game from the three-game suspensions given to Lazio’s Stefan

Radu and Parma’s Daniele Galloppa, again both earned for violent conduct.

Milan lead Inter by two points at the top of Serie A with Napoli just a point further back in third, with eight matches left to play.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

SHOW COMMENTS