Luis Enrique facing potential coaching ban after altercation with Chelsea star

Chelsea came out unexpectedly comfortable winners in the Club World Cup final, beating Paris Saint-Germain 3-0. The PSG side, accustomed to winning with ease of late, did not digest the defeat well.

With less than 10 minutes to go, Joao Neves was sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair, before tensions rose again at the final whistle. As tempers flared between players, both coaching staff got involved too. However as Gianluigi Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi, Andrey Santos and Joao Pedro disputed something, Luis Enrique was seen pushing Pedro in the neck area, after which the Brazilian went down, which could bring serious consequences for the former Spain, Barcelona and Celta Vigo manager.

After cooling off, Luis Enrique spoke to the press and gave his version of events to Cadena Cope.

“I’m stupid. He’s standing there, he pushes me, I touch him, and he throws himself down.”

“At the end of the match, there was a situation that I believe was completely avoidable, on everyone’s part. My goal and intention, as always, was to try to separate the players so there wouldn’t be any more problems,” he said in a press conference.

Luis Enrique reiterated, with no shortage of irony, that he was trying not to escalate matters.

“There was a lot of tension, a lot of pressure. From then on, there was a series of shoving matches from many people, which I think we should all avoid and shouldn’t happen again. But, I repeat, my intention, as always, was to avoid any situation that escalated.”

Meanwhile the Chelsea forward equally admitted little fault, but did not give it much significance. Other than to send a stinging barb to PSG.

“I went to protect Andrey (Santos). I saw the players surrounding him. Like a good Brazilian, I went to protect a friend. A lot of people were coming, and in that mess, I ended up getting pushed. It’s part of the game. They don’t know how to lose, I think. It’s part of the game. Now it’s time to celebrate,” he explained to Sportv, as quoted by Marca.

That said, FIFA may take a much more dim view. Although the next proposed Club World Cup is not for another four years, Cadena SER have explained that he could still face consequences beyond being suspended for games in the competition.

He may face a time-based suspension, that could include a ban from coaching entirely, rather than just games. Atletico Madrid’s Jose Maria Gimenez was fiven a four-game ban, community service and a €21.5k fine after going into the crowd following a Uruguay match to defend his family against local supporters. Meanwhile ex-Barcelona man Luis Suarez was banned from football for four months after biting Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup.