Barcelona lose appeal over Dembélé's two-match ban
The Spanish FA has turned down Barcelona's appeal to have Dembélé's two-game ban reduced to one, meaning he will miss the upcoming ties against Eibar and Valladolid.
The Spanish Football Federation’s (RFEF) Appeals Committee has dismissed the appeal presented by Barcelona in relation to the two-match ban handed to Ousmane Dembélé follwing his red card against Sevilla on October 6.
The French forward was sent off for telling the referee Mateu Lahoz that he was “very bad” during a heated exchange between Barcelona players and the match official following the expulsion of Ronald Araujo. As a result of his misconduct, the RFEF hit Dembélé with the two-game sanction.
With Dembélé having looked set to miss Barcelona’s crunch game against Real Madrid on October 26, the club decided to appeal the ban. However, that appeal has been rejected by the Committee, which also turned down a separate appeal in relation to Araujo's red card in the same game.
Dembélé now available for Madrid after Clásico postponement
While the RFEF decision will come as a disappointment to Barcelona, the good news for the club now is that the 22-year-old winger will not be suspended for the Clásico following its postponement.
The Barcelona-Real Madrid fixture scheduled for October 26 has been postponed due to fears of disruption from a mass demonstration to protest the recent jailing of Catalan separatist leaders that has been scheduled for the same day. The game is expected to be played in December, although a date has yet to be agreed upon by all parties involved.
As such, Dembélé is now set to miss Barça's two upcoming fixtures against Eibar and Valladolid, while Arauja’s one-match ban also sees him miss the trip to Eibar.