• Euro 2012

Platini: Ban for Nasri would be 'ridiculous and shameful'

ESPN staff
June 30, 2012
Samir Nasri celebrates the equaliser © Getty Images
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UEFA president Michel Platini has said suggestions France midfielder Samir Nasri should be given a two-year suspension are "ridiculous and shameful".

After the quarter-final defeat to Spain, Nasri was said to have told a journalist "you are looking for s***, you are looking for trouble" and to "go f**k yourself". The midfielder subsequently said that he "sincerely regrets" his actions.

FFF president Noel le Graet said Nasri's actions had been "intolerable", and the L'Equipe newspaper reported that French football executives were considering making an example of the 25-year-old by imposing a ban that would last beyond the 2014 World Cup.

Platini, who helped France to glory at Euro 1984, suggested Nasri's actions merit some form of punishment but feels a two-year ban would be greatly excessive.

"If I had been suspended any time I insulted a journalist, I would not have made many appearances for the national team," he said. "Nasri deserves something, but a suspension of two years is ridiculous and shameful."

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