Douglas Costa receives fairly lenient ban for spitting at opponent

He has received a ban for spitting at an opponent

Douglas Costa has been handed a four match ban for spitting at Sassuolo's Federico Di Francesco on Sunday. The incident occurred during Juventus' 2-1 home victory over Sassuolo. There were several minor incidents between the two players during the game - Costa was guilty of elbowing and headbutting the player before he spat into Di Francesco's mouth. VAR was needed to alert the referee to the situation before Costa was sent off. He then took to Instagram to apologise for his actions. Di Francesco showed incredible restraint not to react, after being the victim of such a repulsive act. Costa can count himself lucky to only receive a four match ban, after West Ham United's Arthur Masuaku received a six match ban for a similar incident in last season's FA Cup. Serie A are apparently more lenient than the FA.