Barbarouses facing A-League ban for tackle

Melbourne Victory winger Kosta Barbarouses has been cited and is facing an A-League ban for his studs-up challenge on Sydney FC's Milos Ninkovic.

The A-League match review panel issued Barbarouses with a show-cause notice on Monday for his first-half tackle that caught Ninkovic on the shin during Saturday night's 1-1 Big Blue draw.

While the 26-year-old escaped sanction from referee Kris Griffiths-Jones, Sydney coach Graham Arnold argued he should have been sent off.

"I thought Barbarouses should have been a red card," Arnold told Fox Sports after the game.

"For me that's clean and simple, and then Seb Ryall, the next one, a half challenge and that's a yellow card.

"You just want consistency."

Barbarouses went on to score Victory's opener just after halftime, before David Carney equalised in the 76th minute.

He has until midday on Tuesday (AEDT) to submit a response or is likely to miss Sunday's trip to play Central Coast.