Franck Ribery has been suspended for three Serie A matches after twice pushing an assistant referee in Fiorentina’s 2-1 home defeat by Lazio on Sunday.
Footage showed the 36-year-old remonstrating with match officials after the final whistle as Fiorentina protested Lazio’s 89th-minute winner.
The Fiorentina players claimed Lazio’s Jordan Lukaku had fouled Riccardo Sotil in the build-up to the goal and were angry that the referee did not review the incident on the pitch-side monitor, instead relying on a silent check by the VAR official.
Serie A’s disciplinary tribunal said that Ribery had approached the official with “threatening behaviour” and pushed him twice.
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In a statement on his Twitter page on Monday, Ribery said: “I am very sorry for last night, I apologise to my teammates, to the coach, to the fans.”