Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Matheus Cunha is in danger of receiving a longer suspension. The Football Association (FA) has charged him with additional misconduct following his sending-off against Bournemouth.
Cunha was dismissed during the FA Cup match for grabbing Milos Kerkez by the neck. He then appeared to punch, kick, and headbutt the Bournemouth defender.
Referee Sam Barrott immediately issued a red card to Cunha.
Following his dismissal, the 25-year-old Brazilian argued with Wolves manager Vitor Pereira and pushed teammate Dan Bentley as he was being led off the field towards the dressing room.
The FA stated: “Matheus Cunha has been charged following the FA Cup match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bournemouth on Saturday, March 1st. The charge relates to improper conduct around the 121st minute of the game, after he was sent off. Matheus Cunha has until Monday, March 10th to respond to this charge.”
Due to the straight red card for violent conduct, Cunha is already suspended for the upcoming Premier League match against Everton, as well as games against Southampton and West Ham.
If the FA misconduct charge is upheld, Cunha could face an additional one-match ban. This would cause him to miss the important game against relegation rivals Ipswich on April 5th.
Currently, Wolves are in 17th place in the league, just one place and five points above Ipswich, who are in the relegation zone.
Cunha, who is Wolves’ top scorer with 15 goals in all competitions, was previously banned for two games and fined £80,000 by the FA in December for an incident during a match against Ipswich.
In that earlier incident against Ipswich, he clashed with a member of their staff, grabbing the man’s glasses. He could now face further punishment due to this latest incident at Vitality Stadium.
Cunha’s previous ban was reduced after he apologized to the Ipswich security guard and offered to pay for new glasses.
Marcus Bellamy