Chelsea midfielder Ramires will miss
the remainder of the Premier League season after being handed a four-match
suspension by the Football Association.
Ramires accepted a charge of violent
conduct following a review into an off-the-ball incident in the hot-tempered
closing stages of Saturday's shock 2-1 defeat to bottom club Sunderland at
Stamford Bridge.
The 27-year-old caught Sebastian Larsson
in the face with a flailing arm, although the offence was missed by match
referee Mike Dean.
But FA disciplinary officials have
reviewed the footage before issuing the violent conduct charge, which Ramires
did not contest.
He incurred an automatic three-match
ban, and an extra game was added on due to his sending off against Aston Villa
last month.
The Brazil midfielder will miss
Sunday's huge trip to title rivals Liverpool - a match for which Chelsea boss
Jose Mourinho has already threatened to play a weakened team - as well as
meetings with Norwich and Cardiff.
Ramires can still feature in the
UEFA Champions League this campaign, but the fourth and final match of his
domestic ban will cover the first league game of next season.
An FA statement read: "Chelsea
midfielder Ramires has accepted a charge of violent conduct following an
off-the-ball incident that was not seen by the match officials but caught on
video.
"The incident occurred during
Chelsea's Premier League fixture against Sunderland at Stamford Bridge on
Saturday 19 April.
"Ramires receives a four match
ban which will start with immediate effect."
Mourinho and assistant coach Rui
Faria have until 6pm on Monday to respond to further charges of misconduct
following the Sunderland game.
The Portuguese faces punishment for
comments made following his first home league defeat in 78 games at Stamford
Bridge.
Faria was sent to the stands after
berating the match officials following Sunderland's late winner.
Mourinho had to drag Faria away from
fourth official Phil Dowd as the hosts' protests turned ugly in the closing
stages.
The Blues boss could not hide his
anger after his 77-match unbeaten home run ended, launching into a sarcastic
appraisal of the officials in his post-match press conference.
"I want to congratulate Mike
Dean," Mourinho said.
"I think his performance was
unbelievable, and I think when referees they have unbelievable performances I
think it's fair also that managers we give them this.
"So fantastic performance, he
came here with one objective, the objective of making a fantastic performance
and he did that.
"I think it's also fair,
congratulations to Mike Riley, because he's the referees' boss, and what they
are doing during the whole season is fantastic, especially in the last couple
of months, especially in matches involving the teams that were in the title
race, it's absolutely fantastic.
"And I also congratulate Mr
Mike Riley, thank you."
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