Inter Miami striker Luis Suarez has been given an additional three-match suspension by Major League Soccer after spitting on a Seattle Sounders staff member in the Leagues Cup final, the league said on Monday, reported Xinhua.
The sanction extends the 38-year-old's punishment to nine games in total. Suarez had already been banned for six matches by tournament organizers, ruling him out of next year's Leagues Cup.
The new penalty applies to MLS fixtures, meaning he will miss league games against Charlotte FC on Sept. 13, Seattle on Sept. 16 and D.C. United on Sept. 20.
The altercation followed Miami's 3-0 defeat to Seattle in last month's final. Suarez grabbed Obed Vargas by the throat before Sergio Busquets struck the midfielder on the chin. The Uruguayan forward was then restrained by teammates as he spat at Sounders director of security Gene Ramirez.
Busquets and Tomas Aviles received two and three-game bans respectively for violent conduct in the melee, while Sounders assistant coach Steven Lenhart was suspended for five matches and stripped of his field credentials for the rest of the season.
Suarez, who has previously served suspensions for biting and racial abuse, apologized on social media, calling his actions a "mistake" born of frustration. "It's not the image I want to give in front of my family or my club," he wrote.
- Luis Suarez
- 3-game ban
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
