Melbourne City’s Dean Bouzanis faces lengthy ban over ‘gypsy’ slur aimed at Victory’s Besart Berisha

THE MRP is expected to come down hard on foul-mouthed Dean Bouzanis after the City keeper repeatedly directed the derogatory slur at Victory star Besart Berisha.

Besart Berisha gets in the face of Melbourne City's Dean Bouzanis.

FOUL-mouthed Melbourne City goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis faces a potentially lengthy ban after he repeatedly called Melbourne Victory striker Besart Berisha a “f***ing gypsy” in a heated A-League derby loss on Saturday night.

City took the extraordinary step of issuing a public apology to both Berisha and Victory for Bouzanis’ 87th minute remarks.

City chief executive Scott Munn is understood to have sought out Victory officials straight after the match to apologise for the incident, while the club said in its statement that Bouzanis will “issue a formal and personal apology” to the Albanian.

Besart Berisha gets in the face of Melbourne City's Dean Bouzanis.

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The 26-year-old has previously come under fire from opposition coaches John Aloisi and Paul Okon this season for his demonstrative behaviour towards referees and opposition players and coaches.

City says he will undergo counselling to “to rectify the gaps in his understanding”, but Football Federation Australia has scope to also come down hard on the former Liverpool player.

Under the competition’s disciplinary regulations, the Match Review Panel could whack Bouzanis with a substantial suspension for “use of discriminatory language and/or gestures”. The MRP will assess the incident on Monday.

The term “gypsy” can be construed as a highly derogatory slur when directed at a person of Eastern European decent.

Despite being fired up on the pitch, Berisha is understood to have brushed the incident off.

But while sledging is part and parcel of most professional sports, FFA is likely to view Bouzanis’ actions in a dim light given his role model status and the fact the remarks were clearly seen and heard on Fox Sports.

“Bouzanis admitted making the remarks out of ignorance; however, has since understood the seriousness of his comments,” City’s statement read.

Dean Bouzanis and Besart Berisha were at each other all night.

“Once informed of the gravity of his actions, Bouzanis committed to redressing the offence at the earliest opportunity.

“The club regrets the incident and any offence caused.”

It was just one incident in what was an extraordinary climax to the derby, with City superstar Tim Cahill shown a red card before he had even stepped foot on the pitch.

It means Cahill is one of a staggering six City players now suspended for Saturday night’s clash with Brisbane at AAMI Park after Bruno Fornaroli, Luke Brattan, Osama Malik, Fernando Brandan and Manny Muscat all picked up their fifth yellow cards of the season against Victory.