Sergio Agüero has been found guilty of violent conduct and will miss the derby with Manchester United on 10 September, the first match of a three-game ban.
Manchester City had appealed against the charge
and argued that if the striker was found guilty he should receive less
than a three-game ban because, they said, cases involving a greater
degree of violence had met with that punishment.
Yet the Football Association’s three-person independent commission
decided the forward was guilty and merited the standard suspension. He
will miss the derby at Old Trafford, plus the visit of Bournemouth on 17
September and the EFL Cup trip to Swansea City four days later.
The charge relates to City’s 3-1 victory over West Ham United on Sunday
when Agüero appeared to elbow Winston Reid. An FA statement read: “The
Manchester City forward was involved in a 76th-minute incident with West
Ham United’s Winston Reid on Sunday, which was not seen by the match
officials but caught on video.
“The club denied the charge and submitted further that, if it was to
be found proven, the standard punishment would be clearly excessive. On
finding the charge proven at a hearing today, an independent regulatory
commission went on to reject the club’s further claim to decrease the
three-match ban.”
The loss of Agüero is a considerable blow to City and Pep Guardiola.
The manager has guided the team to an impressive start in which they
have won their first five matches. Agüero, who has featured four times,
has scored six goals, three in the Premier League to help City to the
top of the table. The Argentinian has also registered eight times in
derbies, the club’s third-highest tally.
Yaya Touré has been left out of City’s Champions League squad by
Guardiola. Touré has played once this season, in City’s 1-0 win over
Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League play-off round second leg, but
that game was virtually meaningless because City led 5-0 from the first
leg.
Leroy Sané and Ilkay Gündogan, who were bought this summer but have
yet to play because of injury, are included in the 25-man squad for the
group stage. City will face Barcelona, Celtic and Borussia
Mönchengladbach.
Touré’s exclusion is a further signal his City career is effectively over, just as Joe Hart’s loan move to Torino after being dropped by Guardiola seems to have ended the goalkeeper’s time at the club. Touré’s contract expires next summer.
City may face a United defence which is below full-strength at Old
Trafford because Antonio Valencia’s late return from the international
break could force José Mourinho into using Phil Jones, Matteo Darmian or Timothy Fosu-Mensah at right-back despite none having played this season.
Valencia is away with Ecuador but does not return until next Friday,
the day before City’s visit. The match will kick-off at 12.30pm, further
shortening the time Valencia has to recover. Argentina’s Marcos Rojo
and Sergio Romero are also expected to be late back.