Wolves star Matheus Cunha saw ban for shoving Ipswich staff member’s face reduced… after forward offered to buy security guard new glasses

Wolves forward Matheus Cunha had his ban for confronting an Ipswich security guard reduced because he offered to buy him new glasses. 

The Brazilian was charged by the FA on December 16 after a skirmish following his side’s 2-1 defeat by Ipswich at Molineux, in which Cunha grabbed the man’s glasses. 

The 25-year-old was given a two-match ban by an independent commission on New Year’s Eve but the panel’s findings, published yesterday, revealed it would have been three games had he not offered to replace the security guard’s spectacles. 

The panel said a three-match ban was the ‘starting point’ but ‘agreed that Cunha’s acceptance of the charge, his prompt personal apology (which it found to be sincere), the offer to pay for new glasses and his clean disciplinary record were mitigating factors’. 

Wolves had pushed for a one-match ban but the commission ‘did not accept their argument that it should take into account that Ipswich’s security personnel were overly aggressive and contributed to the atmosphere of hostility’. 

The panel also found: ‘Even if that were the case, it did not amount to mitigation for Cunha’s actions. Taking all of these factors into account, the commission decided to reduce the suspension by one match.’ 

The mitigating factors which helped reduce Cunha’s ban also saw the player’s fine reduced from £120,000 to £80,000. 

His offer to buy the security guard new glasses was a mitigating factor in the forward’s appeal