Klaas-Jan Huntelaar suspended for three more Bundesliga games

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar suspended for four games after being sent off in the match against Hannover

Berlin, February 4 (IANS) FC Schalke's Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has been suspended for the next three Bundesliga games for a wild tackle.

Huntelaar, 31, got a straight red card in the 85^th minute for a fierce tackle on Manuel Schmiedebach in Schalke's 1-0 win over Hannover last Saturday, reports Xinhua. The effects of that tackle forced him to sit out Schalke's 1-1 draw against Bayern Munich on Tuesday and got him banned for six games.

But the German Football Association decided that the offence warranted a four-game ban in total, and ruled him out until Schalke's Champions League last 16 first leg with European Champions Real Madrid in Gelsenkirchen.

"Fundamentally, there is no parole for match bans," Hans E. Lorenz, the chairman of the Federal Court, was quoted on the DFB website. "And it will stay like this in the future. But in cases like this, with long bans looming, we have to look to the option of suspending parts of the ban if the player has no previous offences."

Huntelaar, who has scored seven goals in 17 games this season, was also fined 15,000 euros.