Union Berlin coach banned for three games for striking Bayern’s Sane

Bjelica shoved Sané twice in the face after Sané demanded the ball from him to take a throw-in during Bayern’s 1-0 win over Union.

Union Berlin’s head coach Nenad Bjelica is shown a red card during the Bundesliga match against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: AP

Union Berlin coach Nenad Bjelica was banned for three games on Thursday, a day after he was red-carded for striking Bayern Munich forward Leroy Sané during a game.

Bjelica shoved Sané twice in the face after Sané demanded the ball from him to take a throw-in during Bayern’s 1-0 win over Union.

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Bjelica was banned for three Bundesliga games against Darmstadt, Leipzig and Mainz and fined 25,000 euros ($27,000), the German football federation said in a statement. The case was treated as “unsporting behavior” and Bjelica accepted the sanction, the federation added.

After Wednesday’s game, Bjelica said his behavior was “not to be tolerated” but said he would not apologize to Sané, claiming the Bayern player provoked and pushed him. Bjelica said he was “somewhat excited” at the time of the incident because his team had not been awarded a penalty shortly before.

Bjelica has been in charge for seven games since he was appointed in November.

Union is 15th in the 18-team Bundesliga.