By David Gold
September 20 – Brazilian defender Luisão has been handed a global ban from football for two months by FIFA following an incident in a pre-season friendly.
The Benfica captain pushed over referee Christian Fischer during their friendly match with Fortuna Dusseldorf, after a foul was given against his then teammate Javi García.
Fischer fell backwards and after appearing to lose consciousness got back up and abandoned the match.
Luisão, who has also captained his country, afterwards claimed that he did not act in an aggressive manner and said: “I maybe pushed him a bit, but I think he play-acted.”
He was given a domestic two-month ban in Portugal for the offence, but FIFA’s decision to extend the ban means he will miss Benfica’s first four UEFA Champions League games.
In a statement, FIFA said it has “informed the Federação Portuguesa de Futebol (FPF) that the chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has extended the two-month suspension imposed by the FPF on the player Luís da Silva [Luisão] to have worldwide effect.”
Benfica coach Jorge Jesus is confident of being able to cope without his star defender, saying his concern is “the opposition”, and that “missing players is a secondary concern”.
Luisão has represented Brazil at two World Cups and three Copa America campaigns, and the former Cruzeiro man has also won two Portuguese league titles.
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