Fiorentina striker Frank Ribéry has put himself in an unenviable position, after pictures showed him pushing an assistant referee after his side lost 2-1 at home to Lazio.
Video footage of the 36-year-old, who was replaced in the 74th minute, showed an angry talk with the refereeing staff on the pitch after the end of the match, amid protests from Fiorentina players.
The pictures showed Ribery pushing an assistant twice before the players intervened to differentiate between them.
Franck Ribery threatened to be suspended for more than one match after being sent off in yesterday's game after the end of Fiorentina's game against Lazio for paying the assistant referee pic.twitter.com/80H6pZFir8 - @ ahmed20012008 (@ ahmed20012008) October 28, 2019 |
Fiorentina claimed that the move from Lazio's 89th-minute winning goal began with a foul from Jordan Lukaku against Ricardo Sutil, and expressed outrage that the referee had not reviewed the screen on the side of the pitch and only reviewed it with officials of the video assistant referee.
C'est un peu passé inaperçu hier soir, mais Franck Ribéry risque très gros après ce geste envers l'arbitre assistant à la fin du match 😲pic.twitter.com/dB8BpHkWy5 - PiedsCarrés (@PiedsCarres) October 28, 2019 |
"Why didn't he go and review the incident himself on the screen?" Said Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Montella. "The referee made a big mistake by not reviewing a very moving incident."
"We waited four minutes to see the adjudicator's decision. If he himself went to watch the incident, it would have taken one or two minutes."