- Milutin Osmajic bit Owen Beck during Preston’s 0-0 draw with Blackburn
- Osmajic was not shown a red card but he has now been banned for eight games
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Preston forward Milutin Osmajic has been hit with an eight-match ban following his bite on Blackburn’s Owen Beck during last month’s 0-0 draw at Deepdale.
Montenegro international Osmajic left teeth-marks on the shoulder of Rovers defender Owen Beck but escaped a red card as referee Matt Donohue had not seen the biting take place.
Donohue actually sent off Beck, who had kicked out at Duane Holmes moments earlier.
For his act of violent conduct, Beck was hit with a three-match ban and he has already missed Blackburn’s games against QPR and Coventry.
On Friday, Osmajic was also found guilty of violent conduct by the Football Association. His ban is significantly longer than Beck’s due to the severity of the offence.
Milutin Osmajic (second left) pictured biting Owen Beck (left) during a game last month
Beck complained to referee Matt Donohue, who sent him off and gave Osmajic a yellow card
Liverpool loanee Beck was dismissed for violent conduct after kicking out at another player
A statement from the FA issued on Friday morning read: ‘Preston North End’s Milutin Osmajic has been given an eight-match suspension and £15,000 fine for misconduct during their match against Blackburn Rovers in the EFL Championship on Sunday 22 September.
‘The forward admitted that he committed an act of violent conduct around the 87th minute by biting an opponent. An independent Regulatory Commission imposed his sanctions following a hearing. Its written reasons will be published in due course.’
Osmajic’s ban will begin immediately. However, he has already featured in two games since he bit Beck – including Wednesday’s 3-0 win over Watford in which he scored two goals.
Preston issued a statement with the Championship club ‘acknowledging the decision’, adding it will provide no further comment until the written reasons are published.
Left back Beck was sent off after he took a swipe at Holmes in the aftermath of Yuki Ohashi’s foul on Osmajic.
Osmajic then got to his feet and grabbed Beck, barging him away with his head pressed into the back of the Reds loanee’s neck.
Blackburn boss John Eustace said in his post-match press conference that Beck had ‘got a big bite mark on the back of his neck. He’s shown all the lads. He’s a little bit quiet, a little bit shook up.’
Beck later took to social media and uploaded a photo of a bite mark alongside the caption: ‘Scruffy b*******’.
The bad-tempered match had earlier saw Preston’s Sam Greenwood sent off for a lunge at Rovers’ Lewis Baker.
Beck shared a photo of a bite mark just below his neck and captioned it: ‘Scruffy b*******’
Osmajic pictured applauding fans at Deepdale after last month’s game, which ended 0-0
Beck has so far featured in three games for Blackburn since joining on loan from Liverpool
Osmajic is not the first footballer to be hit with a lengthy ban by the FA for biting.
Luis Suarez received a 10-match ban in 2013, when he was playing for Liverpool, after biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic.
Uruguayan Suarez – who had also bitten Otman Bakkal in 2010 when playing for Ajax in the Netherlands – went on to reoffend at the 2014 FIFA World Cup when he famously sunk his teeth into the shoulder of Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini.
Beck joined Preston from Liverpool on a season-long loan deal in August.
He has been a Liverpool player since 2015 and has previously spent loan spells at Famalicao, Bolton and Dundee.
