November 6 – A Romanian midfielder has been handed an unprecedented 16-match domestic ban for fracturing the eye socket of an opponent.
FCM Targu Mures’ Gabriel Muresan committed the foul during a league match last month against champions Steaua Bucharest .
The referee came under fire after only showing Muresan a yellow card after he elbowed Steaua striker Raul Rusescu, with the Romania international undergoing surgery following a zygomatic bone fracture. Doctors said Rusescu, who will be out of action until the New Year, was close to losing his eye.
Another Targu Mures player, Senegalese midfielder Ousmane N’Doye, received a six-match ban after knocking another opponent, Claudiu Keseru, unconscious.
Targu Mures won 1-0 to inflict Steaua’s first away defeat in the league since their 3-1 loss at Brasov in November 2012. Club officials insisted the two bans imposed by the disciplinary authorities were far too harsh.
“It’s a drastic decision, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Targu Mures’s general director Daniel Stanciu told local media. “How a player can be suspended for 16 matches since he wasn’t even sent off? And I don’t understand N’Doye’s ban too.”
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