UEFA Hand Down Two Game Suspension To Eduardo
Filed under: Arsenal, Champions League
In what’s been the most talked about incident of the 2009 / 10 Champions League tournament so far, Croatian International and Arsenal striker Eduardo has been found guilty of “Deceiving a Referee”by an independent disciplinary panel and handed a two game Champions League ban.
Via Guardian
The London club are considering an appeal against the ban, which stands to rule out Eduardo from the Champions League group ties against Standard Liege and Olympiakos, amid feelings of injustice and persecution. Arsenal strongly believe that the governing body’s processes have been inconsistent and flawed.
Eduardo was found guilty by an independent disciplinary panel, convened under the auspices of Uefa, of “deceiving the referee” with his tumble in last Wednesday’s Champions League play-off against Celtic. It yielded a penalty, from which he scored.
The referee, Manuel Mejuto González, has stood by his decision to award the penalty but Uefa nonetheless decided to refer the case to its disciplinary unit. It can do so under the little-used law 10(1)(c), which permits it to revisit incidents containing alleged deceptions or simulations, even if the official feels that he has got the decision right at the time, or even upon reflection.
Eduardo’s case was heard at Uefa’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, and was judged on the evidence of written submissions from both sides. Arsenal had sent a detailed 19-page dossier in which they outlined a tough defence but the writing had appeared on the wall for their striker when Uefa’s general inspector, Gerhard Kapl, wrote, for the prosecution, that “in this case, there are no exceptional circumstances that would justify a plea for mercy”.
Kapl also referred to Eduardo’s “gross unsporting behaviour” and him having won the penalty with an “obvious dive” and “through the act of cheating”. Arsenal’s feeling that the case might have been prejudged has contributed to their angst. They were led to believe that the hearing started at 4.30pm BST and they received a fax containing the judgment at 5.23pm. They feel that 53min was insufficient time for the panel to give proper consideration to their 19-page submission.
It appeared Uefa would only have decided to over-rule González and bring a charge of cheating against Eduardo if it felt that there was the strong possibility of getting a guilty verdict, and that was how events played out in Switzerland. Arsenal’s fury, reflected most vividly in the manager, Arsène Wenger, means that their appeal will be the least of the protest.
“The club is disappointed with Uefa’s decision,” read a statement. “We have been informed that we will receive a ‘reasoned decision’ from Uefa by Thursday of this week. Once we receive Uefa’s rationale, we will make a decision on the next steps.
“We have been deeply frustrated by the perfunctory and apparently arbitrary process that Uefa has followed in this instance. We believe it is imperative that Uefa’s explanation for its decision provides clear and comprehensive standards that will be consistently enforced. It is also critical that Uefa provides specific details of the processes it plans to adopt in reviewing all games under its jurisdiction.”
Image via Independent
Anyone see Ronaldihno’s dive last weekend?
Anyone see Rooney’s dive against Arsenal? This is going to get out of hand soon. The ref has the chance to give the guy a booking if he feels it is a dive. Rooney did the same thing this weekend and nobody is talking about it. So the guy that breaks Eduardo’s leg get 3 games and Eduardo gets 2 games for falling down… Doesnt make sense at all. Anyone that thinks this will get rid of diving in the game is sadly mistaken.
Is every dive going to get a suspension now? Or is it only dives that get free kicks? What about a dive that gets a player a red card. Are they going to go back and replay the rest of the game from that minute to make it even again? This is opening up a big can of worms that is going to make it even worse. A dive is a 2 game suspension…
strikers dive, unfortunate how only arsenals top striker gets the 2 game suspension, a first if i can remember for something that can only be controlled by the diver unless football descends in to crap instant replayery…3 game suspension for snapping his leg in two…we wont need him for those two games and he will be fired up to be back, he has had worse…proves the refereeing bias against arsenal due to xenophobia,racism,bigotry towards the large tmuslim contingent and a general dislike towards their sometimes obvious arrogance….first eduardo, then wenger….arshavin might get sent off for sticking his tongue out after a goal
strange that there is no discussion of the referee awarding the penalty to Eduardo. He ultimately blew the whistle giving the phantom call, but apparently bears no responsibility in the affair.
i seem to remember an anelka dive in last years CL semifinal that ruled abidal out of the final and couldve had a game changing effect on the match, if not for iniestas lucky and/or magical strike at the end, should anelka have been suspended and abidals card rescinded. if so uefa should set a ruling rather than arbitrarily suspending arsenal players for contentious and biased reasons. world cups have been won with hands of gods and collapses from a heabut to the chest…the call of a penalty was wrongly awarded and this has happened before.we see this in NBA and u have to suck up calls when theyre made but the argument here is the uefa has wrongly punished a player due to the clubs he represents rather than the unwritten and ambigious law which he has broken.
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[…] initially being handed a two match ban for “Deceiving a Referee” for his Champions League tumble against Glasgow Celtic and the diving witch hunt set ablaze, […]