Patrick Bamford is set to miss the first leg of Leeds United’s Championship play-off semi-final after being charged with “successful deception of a match official” by the Football Association.
The striker fell to the floor clutching his face during an anarchic mass altercation at Elland Road as Leeds drew 1-1 with Aston Villa last Sunday. Stuart Attwell, the referee, sent off the Villa defender Anwar El Ghazi for his apparent part in the incident but that straight red card has been rescinded after an independent panel ruled that his elbow made no contact with Bamford’s face, with the latter accused of duping Attwell by simulation.
Bamford has until Wednesday night to contest the charge but will, otherwise, serve a mandatory two-match suspension, starting with Sunday’s final league fixture at Ipswich. Ghazi is now available for the play-offs.
Villa and Leeds have been charged with failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion during the second-half melee which occurred after Mateusz Klich gave Leeds the lead at a time when Villa had a player down injured and believed Marcelo Bielsa’s side were about to put the ball out of play.
Bielsa instructed his players to allow Villa to equalise from the restart and things calmed down but both clubs are likely to be fined for what Dean Smith, the visiting manager, described as “a total loss of emotional control”. Leeds and Villa have until Friday evening to lodge appeals.
It is the second time this season that the two sides have been charged with failing to control their players; Leeds were fined £5,000 following a more minor flare-up in a game against Bolton and Villa the same amount in the wake of a similar skirmish in a derby with Birmingham.
The FA panel also viewed a clash in which Villa’s Conor Hourihane possibly appeared to punch Klich in the aftermath of the Leeds goal but deemed it not to be violent conduct. – Guardian
