Lionel Messi Banned For Two Matches, See Major Reason

Lionel Messi Banned For Two Matches, See Major Reason.

OnyxNews Nigeria gathered that the Spanish Soccer Federation on Tuesday banned Lionel Messi for two matches after the Barcelona forward hit an opponent in an off-the-ball incident during the Spanish Super Cup final against Atletic Bilbao.

Messi was facing a suspension of up to 12 matches for swinging his arm at an Athletic Bilbao player during Barcelona’s 3-2 defeat in the final of Spanish Super Cup. The federation’s competition committee didn’t deem the incident to be severe and imposed a lenient penalty against Messi.

Messi appeared to have swung his right arm aimed towards the head of the Athletic Bilbao forward Asier Villalibre as they ran toward the penalty box. After the incident, Messi was handed his first red in 753 appearances for Barcelona.

Referee Gil Manzano, in his match report, stated that Messi hit his opponent with “excessive force” when the ball was not close to him. The suspension will force Messi to miss Barcelona’s match against Cornell in the Copa del Rey and against Elche in the Spanish league.

Meanwhile, Barcelona was handed a shock 2-3 defeat by Athletic Bilbao after the latter scored an extra-time winner to lift the coveted Spanish Super Cup.

“After so many yeas in football, Leo knows perfectly well when he is fit to play,” said  Barca coach Ronald Koeman.

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“We talked and he said he was in a good place to start. He has survived the game, given the maximum, nothing more.”

Messi’s anger will take some of the limelight away from Bilbao, who had already denied the competition a Clasico final by winning Real Madrid in the semi on Thursday and now have completed the set.