Ronaldo’s suspension -Portuguese football icon Cristiano Ronaldo has been suspended for five games after he shoved a referee in the back during the first leg of Real Madrid’s Spanish Super Cup match against Barcelona on Sunday, August 13, 2017.
The veteran attacker was shown two yellow cards -which resulted in a red, before pushing the referee in the back on his way out of the field and into the dressing room.
Ronaldo was shown a first yellow for taking off his shirt and flashing his torso in celebration after he scored the go-ahead goal in the 80th minute. He was then shown a second yellow card and was sent off for diving two minutes later.
This provoked the disgruntled attacker. Cristiano subsequently threw his hands in exasperation, chased after the referee and pushed him in the back.
The Spanish Football Federation hit C Ronaldo with a typical one-match ban for the red card but added an additional four games for the shove.
Notwithstanding the notion that the attacker may have made the wrong decision, the football body while issuing the ban said that “The authority and the safety of the referee deserve the utmost respect and cannot be challenged.
Indeed, it was a deserved suspension for C Ronaldo, as it is well known that you are not allowed to put your hand on any football official. Ronaldo may have lost his focus but will have to pay the price.
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The 32-year-old has 10 days to appeal the five match ban placed on him by Spanish Football. Real Madrid has already said it will appeal the second yellow card, and thus the red, but a successful appeal would merely slash the length of the ban from five games to four.
The Spanish federation’s disciplinary rules call for a ban of between four and 12 matches for anything that can be characterized as at least “slightly violent” behavior toward a referee. Having said that, Ronaldo has little grounds for a rescinding of the penalty for the shove.
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