AC Milan suffered a blow ahead of Saturday's crunch top-of-table clash against Juventus as Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been ruled out through suspension.
The big Swede was sent off against Napoli on February 5 for slapping Salvatore Aronica and handed a three-game ban.
Milan appealed in the hope of having one match knocked off the ban which would have freed Ibrahimovic to play against Juve.
And the reigning champions reacted with fury when their pleas fell on deaf ears.
"The Federal Justice Court's decision is unjust because they have applied a punishment due for violent acts to an act that wasn't violent," said a Milan statement.
"This is a serious judicial mistake."
Given Ibrahimovic had been sent off for slapping an opponent in the face it may seem strange to some that Milan would appeal his ban on the grounds they deny it was violent conduct.
However, last year they were successful with a similar appeal after Ibrahimovic had thumped Bari's Marco Rossi in the ribs.
He had one game taken off his ban but was then dismissed on his return to action for abusing a linesman.
Now Milan will have to do without their top scorer and star player for what could prove their biggest game of the season.
Milan lead Juve by one point having played a game more.
However, in their previous two games without Ibrahimovic they showed no ill effects, beating Udinese 2-1 and Cesena 3-1.
In fact, a look at last year's statistics showed Milan actually earned more points per game without the target man than they did with him.
This season, on the other hand, they have actually earned more points per game with him in the team, although only just.
Perhaps more worrying than those statistics is the fact that Milan's other strikers are struggling to find the net.
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(by football)
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