Werder Bremen punish Naby Keita after he 'decided to go home' rather than face Bayer Leverkusen

Werder Bremen have suspended Naby Keita for the rest of the season and imposed a "substantial" fine after accusing him of walking out of Sunday's Bundesliga clash with Bayer Leverkusen.

The 29-year-old former Liverpool midfielder did not feature in a 5-0 defeat at the Bay Arena, with his club claiming he had chosen "not to travel to the ground with the team and decided to go home instead" after discovering he was not in the starting line-up.

A statement on the club’s official website said: "Werder Bremen have suspended Naby Keita until the end of the season. The club have also handed the midfielder a substantial fine."

Guinea international Keita, the statement added, "will no longer train with the team or be part of the first-team dressing room."

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Bremen’s head of professional football Clemens Fritz said: "As a club, we won’t tolerate Naby’s behaviour.

"He let his team down in a time of difficulty surrounding our recent run of form and squad availability and put his own interests above those of the team. We can’t allow that.

"At this stage of the season, we need full focus on the remaining games and a team who stick together. That’s why we’ve been left with no alternative."

Leverkusen’s win clinched them the title and left Bremen sitting in 12th place, just five points clear of the bottom three with as many games remaining.

Keita, who had a spell in Germany with RB Leipzig earlier in his career, joined the club as a free agent on a three-year deal last summer following the expiry of his