Manchester City elect not to appeal Mario Balotelli's four-match ban for Scott Parker stamp

The Premier League leaders did not meet Wednesday's deadline to contest the FA's decision to punish the Italian for the incident during Sunday's 3-2 win over Tottenham

25 Jan 2012 18:45:00

By Edward Tibbles

More On :  Manchester City, Tottenham, Scott Parker, Mario Balotelli
Balotelli & Parker - Manchester City-Tottenham - EPL (Getty Images)
Getty Images

The FA has confirmed that Manchester City have failed to appeal the four-match ban given to Mario Balotelli after his stamp on Scott Parker during their game against Tottenham.

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Although the Italian forward was not reprimanded during the game, he was handed the ban after the governing body reviewed video evidence and the club were given until 18.00GMT on Wednesday to appeal the charge.

This deadline was not met and therefore the controversial City striker will begin his ban immediately, ruling him out of the club’s Carling Cup semi-final against Liverpool on Wednesday night.

If his team-mates are able to overcome their 1-0 deficit from the first leg, Balotelli would be available to manager Roberto Mancini for the final at Wembley, after he sits out Premier League games against Everton, Fulham and Aston Villa.

The decision to hand Balotelli a suspension after he went unpunished at the time of the incident led the player’s agent to brand referee Howard Webb a "coward" for changing his mind.

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