FA to take no action against Burnley's Ashley Barnes for tackle on Nemanja Matic

Posted Tuesday, February 24, 2015 by skysports.com

Matic: Was sent off, but no action taken against Barnes

The Football Association will take no action against Burnley's Ashley Barnes for his tackle on Chelsea's Nemanja Matic, who is set to appeal against the red card he received for his reaction.

Barnes put in a dangerously high challenge on Matic but was not even cautioned by referee Martin Atkinson during Saturday's 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.

Serbian Matic was furious at the tackle and was shown a straight red card after retaliating by barging the Clarets striker to the ground.

The FA will not re-referee the incident and so cannot take retrospective action against Barnes, but Sky sources understand the Blues will attempt to have Matic's dismissal overturned.

Official Atkinson, meanwhile, has been demoted from refereeing a Premier League game this weekend and will instead be the fourth official for Manchester United's home clash with Sunderland on Saturday.

The FA said in a statement: "In the vast majority of challenges for the ball, no retrospective action is taken as the incident has been seen by the match officials."

"Whole game in agreement that, in vast majority of cases, match officials are best-placed to deal with incidents to avoid re-refereeing."

"In line with this rationale, FA confirm no further action in relation to Ashley Barnes as incident was seen by the officials."

As it stands, Matic will be suspended for Chelsea's next three matches, starting with the Capital One Cup final against Tottenham at Wembley on Sunday.