After 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, Croatia International Eduardo has seen his appeal accepted and his ban overturned by UEFA’s Appeal Board after further and more in depth review.
Via DailyMail
Arsenal won their case in Switzerland, clearing the Croatia forward to play in their Group H opener away to Standard Liege on Wednesday night.
‘I’m very pleased that we have finally arrived at the truth,’ said the Arsenal striker, who has been booed by opposition fans since the incident against Celtic.
‘All we needed to do was prove what happened and we have managed to do that. This decision makes me feel a lot better. All I remember of the incident is that as soon as I had possession of the ball, I headed towards goal at full speed.
‘I was very close to the Celtic keeper and felt contact on my foot and then lost my balance.
‘I know perhaps more than anyone else that when you have contact at speed it can be dangerous. I just want to say that I’m a fair player. To score goals you must take your opportunities and I’m not the type of player who needs to be dishonest to score his goals.’
The Gunners lodged a vigorous appeal, supported yesterday by a personal appearance from Eduardo and a forensic expert who detailed the video evidence frame by frame to convince the appeal panel there had been significant contact from Boruc.
This argument was helped by the fact that referee Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez of Spain insisted he had not been tricked by the striker and stood by his decision, even after watching the television replays.
Arsenal submitted a 19-page dossier for the first disciplinary hearing and suspected it had not been fully digested by the UEFA panel, who took less than one hour to find Eduardo guilty and impose the two-game ban.
After the appeal hearing, UEFA issued a statement which read: ‘Following examination of all the evidence, notably the declarations of both the referee and the referee’s assessor (Johann Hantschk of Austria) as well as the various video footage, it was not established to the panel’s satisfaction that the referee had been deceived in taking his decision on the penalty.’
Arsenal made a statement of their own, which read: ‘We are grateful that the appeal body focused on the evidence and made the right decision in this case.
‘We were able to show that there was contact between the goalkeeper and Eduardo and that the decision of the UEFA disciplinary body should be annulled.
‘We fully support the drive for fair play in football and believe it is important that UEFA provide clear and comprehensive standards that will be consistently enforced going forward.’
Image via Fansonline
