The touchline bans given to Jose Mourinho and Tito Vilanova over their altercation in last season’s SuperCup, have both been officially rescinded as part of a general amnesty announced on Monday by newly reelected RFEF president Angel María Villar. The decision to leave the Real Madrid coach unpunished for physically assaulting then assistant Barcelona coach Vilanova has ignited a firestorm of protest in the Catalan capital. In fact, as I write this post, the FCB board is considering its next step in this affair with media liaison Toni Freixa declaring on Tuesday that an “amnesty does not convert an agressor into an innocent…we are disgusted with this ruling; it is a bad precedent for Spanish football.”

tB will update our site with more on this story as it develops.

Image: Daniel Ochoa de Olza [AP]