Robert Lewandowski ‘suspension’ to be settled on Wednesday

The Competition Committee, the disciplinary body of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), met on Tuesday to discuss Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski’s ‘suspension’ and has informed Barcelona that they have three days to present a case in response to city rivals Espanyol filing an official complaint against the Pole’s participation in the New Year’s Eve derby.

The Spanish Administrative Sports Court (TAD), meanwhile, will meet on Wednesday to determine whether Lewandowski was correctly shown two yellow cards in the match played between Osasuna and Barcelona at El Sadar at the beginning of November. If they finally decide that referee Jesús Gil Manzano was right to caution the striker then the case will be all but over. Barcelona could then appeal to the ordinary courts, but in that case the outcome would almost certainly go against them, with TAD having already given their ruling. Lewandowski will then have to serve an immediate three-match suspension.

Why was Robert Lewandowski able to play for Barcelona against Espanyol?

The ex-Bayern Munich man was able to play in the derby against Espanyol after a Madrid court granted a precautionary measure against his suspension on 30 December, the day before the match. Needless to say, that didn’t go down well with Los Pericos, who filed a complaint with the RFEF, claiming that their opponents had fielded an ineligible player, to which they had alerted match official Antonio Mateu Lahoz before kick-off. Before the fixture at Camp Nou, the RFEF had informed Espanyol that they were unable to overturn an ordinary court ruling.

Speaking ahead of Barcelona’s Copa del Rey match against Intercity, head coach Xavi Hernández revealed that Lewandowski would be rested for the cup-tie because the club believe that he’ll be available for Sunday’s league fixture against Atlético Madrid. We’ll find out on Wednesday.