The FA has charged Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Bournemouth’s Tyrone Mings with alleged violent conduct following a pair of altercations last weekend.
The incidents took place late in the first half of the 1-1 draw played out between the sides at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon.
Mings first appeared to violently stamp on the United centre-forward’s head before Ibrahimovic exacted revenge by seemingly elbowing Mings as the pair challenged for the ball in the air.
Ibrahimovic insisted that his collision with the Bournemouth defender in the box was purely accidental, explaining the incident with the below remark in his post-match interview.
“In my situation, I jump up, I jump high and at the same time I protect myself and, unlucky, he jumps into me. Yeah, he jumps into my elbow.”
But the FA has decided to take retrospective action against both players, with a deadline of Tuesday evening set for both men to respond to their respective charges.
It’s understood that Ibrahimovic could face a three-match ban for his elbow, which would rule United’s top scorer out of next week’s FA Cup quarter-final with Chelsea, as well as Premier League clashes with Middlesbrough and West Brom.
Mings, meanwhile, could likely face a lengthier enforced spell on the sidelines as the FA take a much dimmer view on stamping offences.
Below is the FA statement in full.
“Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Tyrone Mings have both been charged with alleged violent conduct following the Manchester United versus AFC Bournemouth game on Saturday [4 March 2017].
“The players were involved in two separate incidents in or around the 44th minute which were not seen by the match officials at the time but caught on video.
“Furthermore, The FA has submitted a claim that the standard punishment that would otherwise apply for the misconduct committed by the Bournemouth defender is ‘clearly insufficient’.
“Both players have until 6pm on Tuesday 7 March 2017 to reply to their charge.
“Off the ball incidents which are not seen at the time by the match officials are referred to a panel of three former elite referees.
“Each referee panel member will review the video footage independently of one another to determine whether they consider it a sending-off offence. For retrospective action to be taken, and an FA charge to follow, the decision of the panel must be unanimous.”
