Binya hit with six-match ban

Uefa come down hard on Benfica midfielder

Uefa’s disciplinary committee has suspended Benfica midfielder Binya for six matches for his violent tackle on Celtic’s Scott Brown at the end of the recent Champions League encounter.

The tackle led to calls for a heavy punishment from the Scottish team, with Brown claiming the player had deliberately tried to injure him.

Binya himself denied the accusation and publicly apologised for the tackle, and Benfica coach Jose Antonio Camacho called for the inexperienced Cameroonian not to be made an example of.

Those pleas fell on deaf ears however, as Uefa suspended the player for six matches issuing a statement saying the tackle “seriously endangered the health of an opposing player.”

Barring an incredible turnaround by the Eagles, Binya will therefore take no further part in the Champions League this season, and if Benfica fail to claw themselves out of bottom spot in Group D and are thus knocked out of Europe the ban will run well into next season.

Benfica and Binya have three days to appeal against the decision.


Related: Camacho defends under-fire Binya
Related: Binya pleads innocence after horror tackle