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Football

18th Sep 2018

Douglas Costa receives fairly lenient ban for spitting at opponent

The Juventus winger was sent off for spitting at an opponent during a Serie A game at the weekend and has received a ban for his actions

Reuben Pinder

He has received a ban for spitting at an opponent

Douglas Costa has been handed a four match ban for spitting at Sassuolo’s Federico Di Francesco on Sunday.

The incident occurred during Juventus’ 2-1 home victory over Sassuolo. There were several minor incidents between the two players during the game – Costa was guilty of elbowing and headbutting the player before he spat into Di Francesco’s mouth.

WATCH: Douglas Costa sent off for spitting in mouth of opponent

VAR was needed to alert the referee to the situation before Costa was sent off.

He then took to Instagram to apologise for his actions.

Douglas Costa apologies for spitting at Sassuolo’s Federico Di Francesco

Di Francesco showed incredible restraint not to react, after being the victim of such a repulsive act.

Costa can count himself lucky to only receive a fur match ban, after West Ham United’s Arthur Masuaku received a ssix-matchban for a similar incident in last season’s FA Cup.

Serie A are apparently more lenient than the FA.