After Ousmane Dembele once again displayed his ill-discipline last weekend, an FC Barcelona legend has now shared his belief that the club must start punishing the player for his behaviour.
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Dembele was sent off during Barcelona's 4-0 LaLiga win over Sevilla last Sunday after insulting the match referee.
As a result of his indiscretions, the 22-year-old received a two-match suspension, which means he will miss Barca's clash with arch-rivals Real Madrid on 26 October.
Blaugrana legend Rivaldo believes that the France international's behaviour is hurting the club, and that action needs to be taken against him.
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"Barcelona need to have words of their own with the player about this silly sending off," Rivaldo said in his weekly column for Betfair.
"It's not acceptable and it could harm the team, with his absence creating difficulties for his teammates.
"It's important for the club to have an internal procedure to sanction players in these kind of foolish situations, in which you have inappropriate talking to a referee or manager.
"It makes sense to punish him in some way to avoid new situations in the future. I'm not referring to Dembele only, but to any player that might commit a similar action.
"A player needs to be smart, be aware that there are more matches to play after that, and don't let his teammates, manager and club in a tough situation."
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Dembele joined Barca from Borussia Dortmund in 2017 for a reported fee of €105 million (R1.7 billion) plus €40 million (R656 million) in potential add-ons.
Do you agree with Rivaldo? Let us have your thoughts by commenting in the section below.
