FA reject appeal against Mario Balotelli's red card
The English Football Association have rejected Manchester City’s appeal to have a red card issued to striker Mario Balotelli rescinded, meaning that he will miss three matches.
The Italian was sent off during the 2-0 English Premier League victory over West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, 7 November, after he appeared to have lashed out at Youssuf Mulumbu with his foot.
A statement issued by the FA read that: "At a Regulatory Commission hearing today, a claim that the standard punishment is clearly excessive from Manchester City's Mario Balotelli was dismissed.
"As a result, Balotelli will serve a three-match suspension with immediate effect."
Balotelli had scored both goals and had received a yellow card before being dismissed with a straight red card.
The 20-year-old will be forced to sit out the derby clash with Manchester United on Wednesday, 10 November, a home game against Birmingham City on Saturday and the visit to Fulham the following Sunday.
City boss claims sending-off was 'very strange'
City manager Roberto Mancini, who was also Balotelli’s boss at Inter Milan, felt that the red card was “very strange” after the striker had a “fantastic” game.
Balotelli arrived at City over the summer from Inter— with whom he won the treble of the Serie A title, Italian Cup and UEFA Champions League last season — for a fee of around £24m.
His two strikes against West Brom were his first goals in the EPL after being out for two months with a knee injury sustained in the 1-0 win over Timisoara in the UEFA Europa League on 19 August — a match
in which he scored the only goal.
Balotelli made his EPL debut on 24 October after coming on as a substitute in the 3-0 defeat to Arsenal at the City of Manchester Stadium. He started his first EPL game the following week in the 2-1 loss
away to Wolverhampton Wanderers on 30 October.
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