Manchester United’s Bastian Schweinsteiger banned by FA for incident ‘neither

The German World Cup victor was retrospectively charged after appearing to raise his hands at West Ham defender on Saturday afternoon during the 0-0 at Old Trafford.

The English Football Association has banned Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger for three matches over violent conduct.

“Bastian Schweinsteiger will serve a three-match suspension with immediate effect after he accepted an FA charge for violent conduct which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video”, an FA statement read. Bilic also insisted it should have been a red card, but accepted it would have been hard for the referee to spot. “I think that I can do it with other players better”, said the boss after the Champions League exit at the hands of Wolfsburg.

‘It was a moment of madness and he deserved to be sent off, but it’s impossible for the ref to see everything, ‘ said Bilic. “I’m sure Bastian Schweinsteiger will still have a lot of fun at Manchester United”.

The ban means Schweinsteiger will miss games against Bournemouth, Norwich and Stoke City for Louis van Gaal’s side and piles onto the problems now being dealt with in the squad.

Van Gaal claimed Schweinsteiger is not the same player he was under him at Bayern Munich, and the Germany skipper has been a disappointment at Old Trafford since his £14million summer switch.

But Schweinsteiger received support from Germany head coach Joachim Low following Van Gaal’s criticism.

“I saw it on the replays at half-time. He is still a world-class player and undisputed as our captain”, he told Bild. If you take that risk and get caught you have to accept the punishment.

Despite his performances, Schweinsteiger will be important for Manchester United as the Red Devils have a lengthy injury list, with 9 first team players injured.