&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Lionel Messi and Inter Miami teammate fined by MLS for stoppage-time slap incident")
Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammate defender Ian Fray were slapped with undisclosed fines by the Major League Soccer (MLS) Disciplinary Committee for violating the league’s policy on hands-to-face, head or neck of an opponent, the league announced on Friday (Aug 21). Following the stoppage-time incident in the 101st minute of Miami’s 2-2 draw with host Philadelphia Union on Wednesday, the two players received punishments for striking an opponent.
Also during the fixture, tempers flared up in the second-half stoppage time as Miami's Yannick Bright and Philadelphia's Cavan Sullivan were shown red cards.
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Cavan, however, was relieved of his punishment when his one-game suspension and accompanying fine for the red card were rescinded. The Independent Review Panel, consisting of one representative from U.S. Soccer, one representative from Canada Soccer and one independent representative nominated by the Professional Referee Organisation, unanimously voted in his favour for the incident that occurred in the 102nd minute.
Meanwhile, it was late in stoppage time when Miami star Messi approached the centre circle to confront Quinn Sullivan while the ball was in play at the other side of the pitch. Following a brief exchange, Messi struck Quinn on the back of his neck, who then squared up to the footballing great in a fight-style stare-down.
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Referee Filip Dujic, who had his back turned during the incident, arrived to separate the players but did not show either of them a card. Dujic later did send off Cavan Sullivan, younger brother and teammate of Quinn, and Miami's Italian midfielder Yannick Bright after their stoppage-time scuffle in Miami's penalty area.
Messi, on the other hand, received a penalty for breaching the league’s policy.
