It doesn't happen all that often, but Mario Balotelli caught a break.
Balotelli will not be disciplined any further for his studs-up stomp on Arsenal midfielder Alex Song's knee in their match over the weekend, The FA announced on Tuesday. It appears that Balotelli has escaped further punishment — which reports said could have been up to nine games — because of a technicality. Because the incident was seen by at least one match official, it is not subject to more discipline, per FA rules.
"Where at least one of the officials has seen the coming together of players retrospective action is not taken, regardless of whether they have seen the full extent of the challenge," The FA wrote in a statement. "Retrospective action can only be taken in scenarios where none of the Match Officials saw the players coming together. The normal scenarios in which retrospective action is taken are for ‘off the ball’ incidents. Retrospective action was introduced for off the ball incidents where there was no contest for possession and could not be deemed to be re-refereeing an incident."
Balotelli will still serve a three-game suspension for being sent off in the match for a pair of other incidents.
What do you think of this development? Do you think Balotelli's stomp merited a bigger suspension?
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