An independent commission has ruled that the elbow which led to Sergio Aguero's three match ban was "brutal".
The Manchester City striker was punished for the incident which saw him strike West Ham defender Winston Reid during a recent Premier League clash.
As a result, the Argentina international had an appeal rejected and a three-match domestic ban imposed.
However he is likely to feature in Wednesday night's re-arranged Champions League group match against Borussia Monchengladbach.
But the independent regulatory commission were clear about their assessment of the Reid incident.
"All three commission members felt that in their opinion, having been knocked off balance by Winston Reid, Mr Aguero had thrown out his left arm in an aggressive manner that was excessive in force and brutal, which clearly endangered the safety of Mr Reid," they said.
"Indeed, even though the point of Mr Aguero's elbow did not connect with Mr Reid, his flailing forearm did and this contact between forearm and throat/neck clearly hurt Mr Reid. The commission members noted the clenched fist of Mr Aguero as he threw his left elbow towards Mr Reid, the upward angle of the movement and the force of the movement."
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