BANNED FRANCK RIBERY TO MISS CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery will miss the Champions League final after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected his appeal against a ban.

The 27-year-old France playmaker turned to Cas after Uefa imposed a three-match suspension following his red card for a tackle on Lyon's Lisandro Lopez.

Uefa had already dismissed an appeal and on Monday Cas upheld the decision.

Saturday's final clash against Inter Milan in Madrid will be the second match of Ribery's European ban.

Cas said it would reveal the reasons for its decision “in a few days” but the court's secretary general, Matthieu Reeb, said that judges were reluctant to interfere in refereeing judgements. 606: DEBATE

I think Ribery has underperformed massively in the Champions League this season

Chrispaz
“Cas, in accordance with regular practice, was very prudent in ruling on circumstances on the field of play,” he explained, adding it was a “borderline case”.

Before going to Cas, Bayern had appealed to Uefa in the hope European football's governing body would cut the ban to one game.

That would have allowed Ribery to play in the final as he had already sat out the second leg of the semi-final against Lyon, following his sending off in the first leg.

The Cas decision means Ribery will also miss the first European match of the 2010-11 season.