Zlatan Ibrahimovic will not be sanctioned for catching Yohan Cabaye with his arm during Manchester United’s victory over Crystal Palace on Wednesday night. The Swede appeared to swing his left arm at the Palace midfielder in an off-the-ball inccident that was not seen by referee Craig Pawson.
Footage was sent by the FA to the three-man panel of former elite referees but as no unanimous verdict was reached by them on the second-half incident, no further action will be taken.
Marcos Rojo has also escaped retrospective punishment from the FA for his two-footed lunge at Wilfried Zaha because Pawson showed the Argentine a yellow card. The FA cannot increase the punishment for offences dealt with by the match officials.
The FA has meanwhile released details of the reasoning that led to José Mourinho receiving a one-game touchline ban after the United manager kicked a water bottle during his team’s match against West Ham in November. The former Chelsea manager “aggressively kicked the bottle in a manner that could have endangered people around him regardless of the motivation to do so”, according to an independent panel.
Anthony Taylor, the fourth official, informed the referee that Mourinho had kicked the bottle “with little consideration of the consequences”.
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At the time of Mourinho’s appointment at United, there was disquiet in some quarters at Old Trafford that the Portuguese was too often caught up in controversy, and John Alexander, the United club secretary, informed the panel that Mourinho was “striving to improve his disciplinary record”.
United are believed to be among those included within an image rights “tax dodging” investigation, a Conservative MP has said. Charlie Elphicke added that fans should be angry that top football clubs and players including England and United’s Wayne Rooney “stand accused of dirtying the beautiful game with a culture of excessive greed and tax dodging”.
Jennie Granger, HMRC’s head of enforcement and compliance, said this month that 43 players and 12 football clubs in British leagues were under investigation.
A Manchester United spokesman said yesterday: “The club operates within the rules set by football’s governing bodies and HMRC has full visibility of all agreements and payments.”
