Chelsea play the League Cup final against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur this weekend, and they'll be doing it without one of their best players. While the FA has opted to reduce Nemanja Matic's suspension for violent conduct, he's still suspended for two games in all competitions, meaning he won't play at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
Nemanja Matic suspension reduced, but he still misses League Cup final
Chelsea are furious and Spurs are celebrating.
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Matic was shown a straight red card for an incident involving Burnley's Ashley Barnes on Saturday. Barnes caught Matic high up with his studs and Matic reacted by shoving Barnes to the ground. Barnes was not booked for his part in the incident, and referee Martin Atkinson has been given a week off from Premier League officiating for his poor call.
Of course, a small reduction in suspension for Matic, coupled with the lack of discipline for Barnes, has Chelsea annoyed.
.@ChelseaFC appalled with the FA's decision on Matic http://t.co/ZvNPTryRkP #CFC pic.twitter.com/3xpdXl7VEJ
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 24, 2015 Their release states that "it is Chelsea's opinion that referees and the football authorities must do more to protect players at all levels of the game from dangerous challenges." And while no one disagrees with that, Matic did, after all, shove Barnes to the ground during a non-footballing incident. That's a red card and three-game suspension, period. The most ridiculous part of this incident is that Barnes hasn't been suspended for three games or more, but there's not much of a case for eliminating Matic's suspension altogether. What he did was violent conduct, by the letter of the law.
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Ultimately, the biggest beneficiary from all this is Tottenham, who will be thrilled to face a Chelsea side that doesn’t include their star defensive midfielder. The Blues are still going to be favorites to lift the cup, but Spurs’ chances of springing an upset just got a lot better with the confirmation that Matic will miss the match.
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