The midfielder on-loan at Marseille has landed himself in more controversy.
Source: BBC SPORT
QPR midfielder Joey Barton is not known for avoiding controversy and he has once again been banned, this time for insulting PSG defender Thiago Silva.
Barton, who is on-loan from Loftus Road at Marseille, took to Twitter to write about his fellow Ligue 1 player calling him an “overweight ladyboy.”
The 30-year-old has been given a suspended two-match ban for his comments, avoiding an actual suspension after apologising to Silva on the club’s website.
The feud between Barton and the most expensive defender in history started when the Brazilian spoke about the Englishman in a pre-match press conference, before PSG took on Barcelona in the Champions League.
Silva said that the Marseille player, who’s name he claimed he could not remember, only criticised players because no one was talking about him.
Barton then responded to the centre-back via his account on the social networking site Twitter, stating the PSG defender looked like an “overweight ladyboy” and was he “Pre-Op or Post-Op?”
Initially the French Football Federation’s ethics committee did not think they could take any action after the Parisian club made an official complaint, as Barton’s tweets were in English.
However, following Marseille’s apology the original two-match ban for the former Newcastle midfielder was suspended.
Therefore Barton can play in the club’s final three league games as his loan spell comes to an end.
It’s not the first time the England international has been on the wrong side of a ban, after receiving a six-match suspension whilst playing for Manchester City for attacking fellow player Ousmane Dabo.
On the final day of last season Barton was handed a 12-match ban after being sent off for a kick on Carlos Tevez, before elbowing Sergio Aguero and trying to head-butt Vincent Kompany.
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