Lionel Messi Yellow Card Rescinded by Appeals Committee

After the Spanish Football Federation rejected Lionel Messi's initial appeal of the yellow card received for time wasting after being hit by a bottle, Barcelona appealed to a higher authority. The second appeal met with much more success, and the Argentine superstar has seen the card rescinded. 

Continue for updates.

Thursday, Dec. 4

RFEF Rescinds Messi's Yellow Card

A day after rejecting Lionel Messi's appeal, the Spanish football federation's competition committee has rescinded the Barcelona star's yellow card, according to the BBC:

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Barcelona's initial appeal was rejected by the Spanish football federation's (RFEF) competition committee.

However, a second challenge to a higher appeals committee was successful.

The RFEF said the committee had been unable to detect "deliberate time-wasting" on Messi's part but only "a normal reaction from someone who had suffered an aggression by a spectator".

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Wednesday, Dec. 3

RFEF Rejects Messi's Appeal

Barcelona have had their appeal against Lionel Messi's late yellow card for time wasting in Sunday's away victory over Valencia rejected by the Spanish football federation, according to Reuters.

In a strange incident, Messi picked up the caution for complaining to the referee after being hit in the head by a bottle thrown from the crowd as he celebrated Sergio Busquets' stoppage-time winner, which sealed a crucial 1-0 victory in La Liga, per BBC Sport.     

As Spanish football expert Sid Lowe noted at the time, it seemed an odd move from the referee to issue the card to the Argentinian, who seemed simply to be attempting to report the incident at the Mestalla:

However, the official wrote in his match report that he issued the yellow card to Messi because the Barca star "delayed his return to his half of the pitch after the goal was scored with the intention of wasting time," per Reuters. 

It seems that the Spanish federation agreed with the referee's version of events as they rejected the appeal from the Camp Nou outfit, which was entered on Tuesday.  

For their part, Valencia have pledged to ban for life the fan who threw the bottle at Messi on Sunday as soon as the culprit is identified, per the Mirror's James Whaling.