Werder Bremen suspend Keita for refusing to travel with team

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Former Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita has been suspended by Werder Bremen until the end of the season after he refused to play for the team on Sunday having found out he wasn't in the starting lineup for their match at champions Bayer Leverkusen.

Keita, 29, has also been handed a "substantial fine" by the Bundesliga side.

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"Naby's behaviour is intolerable for us as a club. With this action, he has let his team down in a tense sporting and personnel situation and put himself above the team. We cannot allow that," Bremen's head of professional football Clemens Fritz said in a statement on Tuesday.

"At this stage of the season, we need to be fully focused on the upcoming games and have a team that stands very close together. There was therefore no alternative to the measures we took."

Werder Bremen said the midfielder "chose not to travel to the ground with the team and decided to go home instead" after finding out he was not in Ole Werner's starting XI for Sunday's match in Leverkusen.

Werder Bremen would go on to lose the match 5-0, a result which secured Bayer Leverkusen's first German league title in their 120-year history.

Talking after the match, Werner said Keita would have to face the "consequences" for his decision.

It has been a frustrating season for Keita, who moved to Werder Bremen on a free transfer last summer after five years at Liverpool.

He has made just five Bundesliga appearances this season in an injury-filled campaign.

Information from Reuters contributed to this report.