Melbourne City look set to be without maverick midfielder Tolgay Arslan for more than a month after he was charged by Football Australia for alleged verbal abuse of a match official.
Arslan was shown a straight red card by referee Shane Skinner after full-time in Friday's 4-2 A-League Men loss to Perth Glory.
The German-born midfielder was cited by FA's match review panel for the "use of offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures against a match official".
The minimum sanction for the offence is a one-game suspension, but such is the severity of his alleged outburst that Arslan was referred straight to FA's disciplinary and ethics committee.
The match review panel deemed Arslan's behaviour warranted a sanction greater than four matches.
FA could opt to beef up that ban, which would leave City severely depleted heading into what shapes as a definitive period in the club's campaign.
City, clinging to a spot inside the top six after the loss to Perth, face four clubs - Melbourne Victory, Macarthur, Wellington and Central Coast - above them on the table over the next six weeks.
Elsewhere, Perth's Stefan Colakovski was handed a one-match ban after picking up a fifth yellow card for the season and will miss Friday's trip to face Adelaide.
