Tuesday 12 January 2016 23:01, UK
Barcelona forward Luis Suarez has had his appeal against a two-match suspension rejected by the Spanish FA.
The 28-year-old was punished for an incident in the tunnel following the recent Copa del Rey last-16 first-leg win over Espanyol.
He was deemed to have directed insults at Espanyol players following Barca's 4-1 victory over their Catalan city rivals on January 5.
And he will miss the subsequent return leg against Espanyol on Wednesday as well as the quarter-finals should Barca successfully pass through the second leg.
According to referee Juan Martinez Munuera's post-match report, Suarez had waited for Espanyol players in the tunnel after the match and repeatedly shouted at them.
It provoked a clash between rival players that needed the intervention of stadium security, after a fiery encounter on the field at the Nou Camp.
Espanyol had two players sent off in the game and were lucky to escape further punishment when goalkeeper Pau Lopez appeared to deliberately stamp on Lionel Messi, which went unseen by the officials.
The appeals committee insisted in a statement that Suarez's actions had been "premeditated" and that he had "repeated provocative phrases and offensive terms several times".
Suarez's controversial career has seen him receive four lengthy bans, three of which have been for biting opponents, and one for allegedly racially abusing then Manchester defender Patrice Evra while he was at Liverpool.
