Gold Coast United's Steve Pantelidis believes his former captain should be suspended for the remainder of the season. Melbourne Victory skipper Kevin Muscat is facing a length stint on the sidelines for a crude tackle on Melbourne Heart youngster Adrian Zahra in the derby on Saturday night, receiving a red card for his troubles.

With Zahra's injury confirmed as knee ligament damage, sidelining him for the remainder of the campaign, ex-Victory midfielder/defender Pantelidis feels Muscat should be given the same fat by Football Federation Australia's disciplinary committee.

"To me it was a tackle made out of frustration and there was also a malicious side to it," Panta told SBS.

"I have known Muscy for six years and while he doesn't go out to hurt anybody, you could see in the incident with Zahra that he was angry at the Heart equalising beforehand and he looked to have lashed out a bit.

"While we are great mates, and will remain so, there is really no excuse for a tackle like that and I will be very surprised if he plays again in the A-League this season. I think he'll be banned from now on right through the finals."

Muscat has indicated that he may walk away from the game as he feels it is now past him but Pantelidis said that would be a crying shame if it was to occur in this manner.

"He's been a superb leader for the Victory, he's captained Australia and also Millwall and he's been a giant on and off the field and it would be sad if he now quit over this incident and that's the way people remembered him," he added.