The president of the Southern Administrative Center Court (TCAS) accepted the precautionary measure suspending Paulinho’s sentence, DN said. The Sporting striker could therefore be an option for the derby in the 20th round of the I Liga against FC Porto on Sunday (6 p.m.).
Given the impossibility of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAD) to form an arbitration panel in a timely manner to decide on the appeal filed, Judge Pedro Marchão Marques granted the leonine player’s request, suspending the sentence.
Sporting resorted to court to nab the striker after he was denied the use of punishment by the Disciplinary Council (CD) of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). First for the TAD: Paulinho appointed a judge and the Federation (which oversees the CD) had to appoint another, but there was no consensus on the third element. And since it was not possible to reach a decision on the collective, the matter went to TCAS.
This isn’t the first time lions have resorted to TCAS. The most publicized case was that of João Palhinha, who finally entered the game against Benfica with five yellow cards in the league (the rules say that a player serves a suspension when he reaches 5 cards), after the court accepted the leonine precaution 24 hours before a derby.
Paulinho was penalized three games after his exclusion from the League Cup final, one for a red card and two for statements against the refereeing team led by João Pinheiro. According to the judge’s report, the Sporting player “went to the fourth referee with his finger in the air” and shouted: “Corrupt, corrupt, you are corrupt.”
Now it is Paulinho who gets the green light to play the classic, after he won the duel with Sp. Braga (win, 5-0) and Rio Ave (win, 1-0)
(updated)
Source: DN
