What punishment could Luis Enrique face for João Pedro incident?

Tempers boiled over during Paris Saint-Germain’s 3-0 defeat to Chelsea FC in the FIFA Club World Cup. The match had multiple flashpoints as PSG saw their dreams of a historic quintuple dashed in chastening circumstances, and this spilt onto the pitch following the final whistle.

Luis Enrique was seen making contact with João Pedro (23) during an argument between the Chelsea striker and the PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma (26). Footage appeared to show the manager grabbing João Pedro’s face and making contact with his neck. The striker then fell to the floor.

The PSG head coach has justified his actions, telling reporters in his post-match press conference that he was attempting to pull the players apart: “It was a completely avoidable situation for everyone. Different people were involved in this. We had to avoid problems. I wanted to prevent it from escalating.”

However, he could now face disciplinary action, if, as Le Parisien explains, FIFA decide to open proceedings against the head coach. FIFA’s articles say a person could be punished for “at least three matches or an appropriate period for an assault, including punching, elbowing, headbutting, kicking, biting, or spitting against an opponent or any person other than a match official.”

And as the French outlet notes, there is precedent. Guadalajara’s head coach was suspended for three games in January after he kicked Nicolás Fonseca (26) during a match against Club Leon.

View publisher imprint

Mentioned in this article

• 

  PSG