Barcelona star Lionel Messi cops two-game ban for hitting opponent

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Lionel Messi walks off the field after being shown a red card during the Super Cup final loss to Athletic Bilbao in Seville. Picture: STUFF SPORTS.

Lionel Messi avoided a tougher sanction and was suspended for only two matches on Tuesday (Wednesday NZT) after hitting an opponent in an incident away from the ball in the Spanish Super Cup final.

The Barcelona forward was facing a suspension of up to 12 matches for swinging his arm at an Athletic Bilbao player at the end of the team’s 3-2 loss on Sunday (Monday NZT).

The Spanish football federation’s competition committee did not deem the incident to be too serious and applied a less severe penalty. The committee also fined the club €700 (NZ$1194) and Messi €600 (NZ$1023).

Barcelona said they would appeal Messi’s suspension.

After passing the ball out to the left flank, Messi swung his right arm towards the head of Athletic forward Asier Villalibre as they ran forward toward the box.

Villalibre immediately fell to the ground and Messi was given his first red card in 753 appearances for Barcelona’s main squad.

Referee Gil Manzano said in his match report that Messi hit his opponent with “excessive force” while the ball was not near him.

Messi was visibly frustrated as the match went on and Barcelona struggled to recover from their deficit against Athletic.

The Catalan club twice relinquished leads, including conceding a 90th-minute equaliser scored by Villalibre. Antoine Griezmann scored both Barcelona goals, with Messi assisting in the first one.

The defeat cost Barcelona a chance to end a title drought that has lingered from last season, the club’s first without a trophy since 2007-08.

While it was Messi’s first red card for his club, he has been sent off twice while playing for Argentina’s national team, including a few seconds into his debut in a friendly against Hungary in 2005.

The other time was in the 2019 Copa America in a match against Chile. He was also sent off once while playing for Barcelona’s “B” team.

Messi will miss Barcelona’s matches against third-division club Cornella in the Copa del Rey and against Elche in the Spanish league. He was already expected to miss the game against Cornella with coach Ronald Koeman trying to keep Messi’s minutes under control to avoid serious injury.

The 33-year-old Messi had been doubtful to play in the Spanish Super Cup final because of an unspecified fitness issue that had caused Koeman to leave him out of the semifinal match against Real Sociedad on Wednesday (Thursday NZT), when Barcelona prevailed in a penalty shootout.

Messi, who asked to leave the club in the off-season but had his request denied, is having an average season compared to previous years, having scored 14 goals in 22 matches. He was far from his best on Sunday (Monday NZT) despite helping set up the team’s first goal.

 

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