Inter midfielder Kondogbia's 2-match ban for 'disrespect' cut to 1

Football - Arsenal v AS Monaco - UEFA Champions League Second Round First Leg - Emirates Stadium, London, England - 25/2/15 Monaco's Geoffrey Kondogbia celebrates scoring their first goal Reuters / Eddie Keogh Livepic/Files

REUTERS - Inter Milan midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia had a two-match ban imposed for sarcastically applauding a referee's performance reduced to one match on appeal, his club said on its website (www.inter.it) Friday.

The official sent the French international off "for disrespectful conduct" at the end of a Serie A game against Fiorentina on Feb. 14, which Inter lost 2-1, the league said on its website.

The league's disciplinary committee imposed the two-match ban for what it called "a round of dramatic, ironic and prolonged applause."

The club appealed to a tribunal, which it said had halved the ban.

The 23-year-old player is now available for Sunday's away match against table toppers Juventus.

(Reporting by Silvia Recchimuzzi and Anna Jaworska-Guidotti in Gdynia; editing by John Stonestreet)