Pinola Gets Four-Match Ban After Spitting Incident

Javier Pinola has received a four-match ban from the DFB after spitting at Bastian Schweinsteiger in Nurnberg’s match against Bayern Munich on the weekend. Pinola was not booked or reprimanded for the offense on the day because the referee reportedly missed the incident, but action has now been taken and Pinola will miss out on Nurnberg’s next four fixtures.

According to reports, Pinola apologized to Bastian Schweinsteiger for the disgusting offense, and Schweinsteiger accepted the apology. I’ve never looked at Schweinsteiger and had the word ‘peaceful’ come to mind, but there you go. It’s a disgusting offense (the spitting, not the forgiving) and one I know I wouldn’t easily get over. Good on them both for resolving the issue, but I think it’s a real show of rotten character doing something like that. You don’t just spit on another player without really thinking about it first.

Anyway, I think the ban matches the crime here. Four games is what Pinola would get for violent conduct, and this is assault in it’s own right. Nurnberg will miss him in these next four games, and they aren’t easy ones either. Home to Kaiserslautern, away to Mainz, home to Dortmund, and away to Hoffenheim. Nurnberg are currently tenth, but if they fail to get results in those four games, they could find themselves in the middle of a relegation battle.