Andre Villas-Boas banned 6 games in Russia for striking official

MOSCOW -- Zenit St. Petersburg coach Andre Villas-Boas was suspended for six games by the Russian Football Union on Thursday for striking a match official.

After Villas-Boas was sent off during a 3-1 loss at home to Krylya Sovetov Samara on Saturday in the Russian Premier League, he was caught swearing in Russian on the TV broadcast as he confronted fourth official Ivan Saraev, and they appeared to butt heads. That incident was not shown on TV.

However, disciplinary commission head Artur Grigoryants said Villas-Boas ''left his technical area and hit the fourth official in the chest.''

Villas-Boas has previously coached Chelsea and Tottenham.