All Cules must surely be thanking their stars and taking to the streets in jubilation as Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has miraculously escaped a multi-match ban for his heavyweight rabbit punch on Athletic Bilbao’s Asier Villalibre in the Supercopa de Espana final.
The Blaugrana talisman is set to miss the Copa del Rey tie against Cornell and La Liga fixture against Elche after being suspended for at the chaotic weekend. The Committee could have imposed a ban of up to 12 games nut Messi gott off with just a two-match ban.
Apparently the federation’s competition committee did not deem the incident to be severe and instead levied a less severe penalty against the player. Barcelona have confirmed they will appeal against the decision.
After passing the ball out to the left-wing, Messi swung his right arm at the back of the head of Athletic forward Asier Villalibre who had flung his body into the path of Barca’s talisman as they both ran toward the box. Villalibre immediately fell to the ground and after a video review, Messi was given his first red card in 753 appearances for Barcelona.
Referee Gil Manzano said in his match report that Messi hit his opponent with excessive force while the ball was not near him.
Messi will miss Barcelona’s match against third-division club Cornell in the Copa del Rey and against Elche in the Spanish league.
Well, extraterrestrial, otherworldly or just mere mortal, when it’s Lionel Messi, things somehow have a way of turning out just great for him on the pitch somehow in the end, most times anyway.
With the highly-anticipated match coming up in the next few weeks against PSG in the Champions League featuring the reunion of Messi and Neymar on the pitch albeit on opposite sides, this is one bit of luck that the Barca skipper really needed.