FC Barcelona to appeal Suarez and Busquets cards
FC Barcelona are to appeal against the red card shown to Luis Suarez and the yellow card shown to Sergio Busquets in their fiery Copa del Rey semi-final in the hope of having the Uruguayan striker available for the final.
Barcelona drew 1-1 with Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the semi-final, advancing with a 3-2 aggregate win, but finished an ill-tempered match with nine men as Sergi Roberto and Suarez saw red.
Atletico’s Yannick Carrasco was also dismissed in the match – with all three players sent off for second bookable offences.
A statement on Barcelona’s website on Wednesday said: “FC Barcelona is to present an appeal to the Competition Committee against certain allegations in the referee’s report of the Copa del Rey semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid.
“The first of these refers to the second yellow card shown to Luis Suarez after a tussle for the ball with Koke. The Uruguayan received two bookings in the space of three minutes.
“Match official Jesus Gil Manzano stated in his report that Suarez was booked for the second time because of ‘striking an opposing player with his arm in a reckless manner while contesting the ball.’
“Sergio Busquets, meanwhile, was cautioned for kicking the ball off the pitch when there were in fact two balls on the field at that time. According to Gil Manzano, Sergio was carded for ‘kicking the ball away from the place where it was supposed to be played in expression of disagreement.”‘
Suarez, who scored Barca’s sole goal of the evening in the 43rd minute, received his two bookings just three minutes apart, being sent off in the final minute of the match.
Roberto was sent off shortly before the hour mark, with Carrasco following him down the tunnel in the 69th minute. Busquets’ picked up his yellow card deep into added time at the end of the second half.
Barcelona will face Deportivo Alavés in the Copa del Rey final on Saturday the 27th of May. The Basque club knocked out Celta Vigo 1-0 on aggregate tonight.
