Nemanja Matic had his ban reduced from three games to two by an appeal commission but Chelsea reacted angrily, saying they were ‘appalled, disappointed and frustrated’.
The reduction did not quell the fury at Stamford Bridge, where it has been viewed as a token gesture from a disciplinary process punishing the victim of a bad tackle and letting off the aggressor, Burnley’s Ashley Barnes.
Even so, the FA commission’s explanation for cutting the ban — citing the ‘level of force’ used by Matic — opens the governing body to a raft of future appeals in violent conduct cases.
The FA have not charged Barnes for a tackle on Matic which was branded ‘criminal’ by Jose Mourinho, who received a visit yesterday from Mike Riley and Howard Webb of the PGMOL, the elite referees’ group. Mourinho unleashed his festering discontent on Riley and Webb during a meeting which lasted more than an hour at the club’s training ground.
For Matic, there is no further course of appeal and he will miss the Capital One Cup final against Tottenham on Sunday and the Barclays Premier League game at West Ham.
Written reasons will follow from the commission but his club reacted to the verdict in a statement headlined: ‘Chelsea appalled with the FA’s decision on Matic.’ The board called for football’s authorities to protect players more from tackles like the one by Barnes, during a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
‘It is the club’s view that he has been unjustly punished with a two-match ban for his reaction to a career-threatening tackle,’ the statement read.
Matic was not able to appeal on grounds of wrongful dismissal because referee Martin Atkinson and his assistants said they had seen the flashpoint, even though Atkinson is thought to have told Mourinho afterwards that he had not.
The FA are reluctant to re- referee anything seen by officials, although this case raises the question of what represents ‘seen’ and ‘unseen’. They want to avoid a situation where referees are tempted to dodge big decisions knowing they will be cleared up by a video panel.
Chelsea appealed instead the severity of the punishment and offered examples of aggressive confrontations involving Jack Wilshere, Jan Vertonghen and Joe Hart, among others, which recently went unpunished.
The commission ruled on Matic’s push alone, not on the fact he was provoked. They did not have the authority to wipe out the ban, but could have cut it to one game.
Commission chairman Roger Burden said: ‘The violent response of Mr Matic cannot be condoned and does not vindicate his subsequent actions. The members of the commission did, however, accept the mitigation in respect of the level of force used by Mr Matic and the nature of the contact he made with Mr Barnes.
‘We determined that the standard punishment of a three-match suspension would be clearly excessive.’
That ruling will be noted with interest at Aston Villa, whose striker Christian Benteke was sent off in November for pushing Ryan Mason and banned for three games. Paul Lambert, Villa’s manager at the time, said: ‘Three games is excessive. We asked the FA to look at it. It was dismissed.’ – Daily Mail