Wolves head coach Vitor Pereira blamed a game of high emotions for the red card that will rule out attacking talisman Matheus Cunha for at least the next three games.
Cunha, who scored a long-range effort earlier in the game at the Vitality Stadium, was sent off in extra time of their fifth-round FA Cup defeat at Bournemouth for hitting, kicking and headbutting defender Milos Kerkez.
The 25-year-old then had to be dragged down the tunnel by team-mates and Wolves staff after reacting angrily to the red card.
Cunha grappled with his own side as they tried to get him down the tunnel (Photo: Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images)
Earlier in the season, the Brazil international received a retrospective two-match ban for elbowing an Ipswich Town staff member and pulling his glasses from his face following Wolves’ defeat in the Premier League on December 14.
Cunha will now receive an automatic three-match suspension for violent conduct, ruling him out of the crucial Premier League meetings with Everton (March 8), Southampton (March 15) and West Ham United (April 1).
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“Matheus is a special player, and today he played extra time without conditions to play extra time,” said Pereira.
“I left him out without a substitution to try to be there and create some to create. For the last three weeks, he has had a problem in the hamstring and he tried to play on.
“The emotional side in this game was very high, not only inside the pitch, but on the bench, in the stands, everywhere. There was a lot of pressure. In the end, what happened can happen. Of course, it should not happen but this is something that happens in football and we must deal with the situation.
“I didn’t see the situation. I was looking at the ball on the other side of the pitch. But in the end the referee decides for a red card.”
Cunha seemed surprised at the decision to send him off (Photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
After the game ended 1-1 after extra time, Wolves were knocked out of the FA Cup after going on to lose the resulting penalty shootout 5-4.
Pereira added: “It was a very tough game with a lot of limitations, injury limitations and yellow cards, and facing a team who are physically strong, playing a football physically with long balls, balls in the space, second balls and they are good at this.
“In the end we competed until the last minute, until the last penalty, and at the end of the day I’m proud of my team because we had an injury to Bellegarde, to Doherty, to Munetsi and yellow cards to Joao Gomes and Nelson Semedo.
“It was too many things and in the end we missed the penalty, but we competed and I’m proud of my players.”
Cunha, who signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract at Wolves in February, has scored 15 goals and provided four assists in 29 games this season.
(Photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
