The English Football Association are investigating an alleged biting incident during Sunday’s EFL Championship clash between Preston and Blackburn Rovers, a source has told ESPN.
Blackburn defender Owen Beck, on loan at the club from Liverpool, complained to referee Mathew Donohue that he had been bitten by Preston forward Milutin Osmajic following an incident during the first half of the 0-0 draw.
Osmajic was shown a yellow card by the referee, but Blackburn manager John Eustace said after the game that Beck has a bite mark from the incident.
“Owen’s got a big bite mark on the back of his neck and it’s a shame the referee didn’t see that,” Eustace told BBC Radio Lancashire. “It’s a very serious incident, no-one likes to be bitten.
“Everyone’s angry about it. It’s not a nice situation to be in. I’m sure the right people will see it and we’ll take it from there.”
A source has told ESPN that the English FA is aware of the incident and is now investigating.
Former Liverpool forward Luis Suárez was given a 10-match suspension by the FA in 2013 for biting Chelsea‘s Branislav Ivanovic.
And although he said he did not see the incident, Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom said “there is no place for biting.”
“All I can say is, there no place for that [biting] and we know you can’t do that,” Heckingbottom told Radio Lancashire. “Mistimed tackles and things like that are part and parcel of the game, you accept them.
“Anything that’s not, we know how that’s dealt with. But I’ve not seen anything so I’m just going off [the media] saying there’s an incident.”