Paris Saint Germain right-winger Angel di Maria has been slammed with a four-match ban for spitting at Marseille defender Alvaro Gonzalez during a French Ligue 1 match on September 13.
The match which ended 1-0 in favor of Marseille saw five players including Neymar received red cards for their roles in the brawl that occurred towards the end of the match.
Afterward, the governing body of professional French football, Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) slammed different degrees of bans on the five players that were red-carded. Then, the body announced that the allegation that Angel di Maria threw spittle on Alvaro Gonzalez would be investigated.
The 32-year-old Argentina right-winger was summoned to face the LFP disciplinary committee. After the hearing of the committee, it was concluded that Angel di Maria spat at the Marseille star during the brawl. Hence he joined Neymar and four others to receive Ligue 1 match-ban.
From the six players that have been banned due to the brawl, Angel di Maria has the second-highest number of match-ban (4) – Neymar got a two-match ban, PSG’s Layvin Kurzawa got 6 match ban, Leandro Paredes got a two-match ban. While Marseille’s Jordan Amavi got a three-match ban and Dario Benedetto got a one-match ban.
Angel di Maria’s spitting offense was not detected during the match as he played the entire 90 minutes, unlike the other 5 players.
His ban will commence on Tuesday, September 29 which means that the Argentina football star will be available for PSG’s French Ligue 1 match against Reims this weekend. Afterward, he will not be listed in PSG’s squad that will execute games against Anger, Nimes, Dijon, and Nantes. He has already played three matches this season, scoring one goal and providing one assist.
After Angel di Maria’s ban, the spotlight is on Alvaro Gonzalez
Now that Di Maria has become the latest victim of the September 13 brawl, the attention of the LFP will now be focused on the main allegation that led to the whole brawl. Recall that Neymar said Alvaro Gonzalez racially abused him during the match and had to take the laws into his own hands when referees on duty failed to take action despite reporting the issue to them.
The 28-year-old Brazilian forward even went on Twitter to tweet that he regretted not hitting Gonzalez in the face for his racial comment against the PSG star while the Marseille star insisted that he didn’t use any racial comment against Neymar who he described as a bad loser.
Ligue de Football Professionnel had promised to look into Neymar’s allegation and if Gonzalez is found guilty, he could face a 10-match ban.
