A soccer player has been banned for eight matches and fined 15,000 pounds (about $20,000) after biting another player during a heated game between Preston and Blackburn in England’s second division.
Milutin Osmajic from Preston admitted to violent behavior for biting Blackburn defender Owen Beck late in the match on September 22.
Even though Beck seemed to inform referee Matt Donohue that he had been bitten, Osmajic was not sent off for the incident.
The English Football Association stated on Friday that the punishment was for misconduct.
Blackburn’s manager John Eustace mentioned that Beck was left shaken after his encounter with Osmajic, who appeared to bite the back of Beck’s neck.
Preston and Blackburn are local rivals in northern England, and the intense match saw one player from each team receive a red card during the 0-0 draw. Beck was shown a red card for kicking out at Preston’s Duane Holmes, and the biting happened in the heated reaction to that incident.
Preston said they would not comment on the decision until they received the written reasons for the punishment.
“All I can say is that there’s no place for (biting),” said Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom during the incident. “Mistimed tackles, things like that are part and parcel of the game, you accept them; anything that is not has to be dealt with.”
Osmajic will not be able to play until his team’s match against Derby on November 23.
In the past, former Liverpool and Barcelona striker Luis Suarez received a 10-match ban in 2013 for biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic. He was then given a four-month ban for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
