Wenger admits Eduardo exagerated dive ahead of appeal hearing – but says there WAS contact!
The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is preparing to defend Eduardo from the two-game ban imposed for “deceiving the referee” in the Champions League Qualifier against Celtic, and he is finally prepared to admit that the Croatian striker “made more of it”, but is still adamant that there was contact between his player and the Celtic keeper Artur Boruc, and he is ready to prove it.
The basis of Arsenal’s appeal is that; if the player is touched you cannot prove “intent to deceive”, and it is so hard to distinguish one fact from the other, that it is unfair to single out Eduardo for punishment when it happens in nearly every single game.
“We want to fight against diving,” said Wenger.
“He made more of it, yes. But we have the proof that he has been touched and that he made a little bit more of it. There’s a fine line between behind shrewd and everyone supports you, or saying that it’s a dive and you’re cheating. I’ll find you every week between five and 10 such incidents. I saw one in Serbia’s game against France.”
“Platini has been quite open about this case. He’s been a player as well and knows what it’s like. The relevant article in Uefa’s regulations relates to a guy who tries to win an advantage by trying to ‘deceive’ the referee, but you cannot prove intent from a guy who is touched.
“This article has been written by a lawyer, not a football person. If you extend this rule then you can apply it to every football situation because players will always try to do things and make sure the referee doesn’t see it by deceiving the referee.”
“You want everybody to be treated fairly, and I don’t believe he has been treated fairly,” he continued. “But I don’t think it will affect him. He’s been through a lot more difficult things than that.
“This is a very emotional situation. Being a hero, or a cheat depends very much on what side of the camp that you are. England are in the World Cup next year and if Rooney does that in the last minute of the game and England win the World Cup, do you really think that Rooney will be slaughtered the next day? That just shows you.”
We have already seen Rooney’s examples since Eduardo was punished, but have we seen any more charges levelled?
It would seem that Wenger has made a very good case for the defence, but is it likely that UEFA will listen to him and reverse the ban? I doubt it very much.
The appeal is to be heard on Monday 14th September at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
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wenger always said the same thing. from the moment he saw the replay on live tv he agreed that it might not have been a pen – but his point all along has been that boruc collided with eduardo – however slight the contact, once contact is made you cannot fault a player for diving.