UEFA to hear Ibrahimovic ban appeal on March 26

GENEVA (AFP) –

Paris Saint Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic practices during a training session at the Camp des Loges, on October 5, 2012. UEFA says it will hear PSG‘s appeal against the Champions League ban for Ibrahimovic on March 26, as the French club battle to be able to play him in their quarter-final against Barcelona.

UEFA on Monday said it will hear Paris Saint Germain’s appeal against the Champions League ban for star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic on March 26, as the French club battle to be able to play him in their quarter-final against Barcelona.

PSG want UEFA’s disciplinary panel to reduce the big Swede’s two-match ban, earned after he was sent off in the final seconds of their 2-1 win against Valencia on February 16, in the last 16 stage of the tournament.

Ibrahimovic has already served half his ban, after missing PSG’s second leg against Valencia.

But he and the club hope that UEFA will not force him to skip the crunch April 2 encounter with Barcelona at home in the Parc des Princes.

Filing an appeal with UEFA is not risk-free, however, as European football’s governing body has three options: to waive the ban, to uphold it, or to toughen it.

Ibrahimovic, who is 31, has notched up 12 red cards in his career, although never in a Sweden shirt.