Arsenal striker Eduardo just wants to focus on Wednesday's Champions League clash against Standard Liege after his two-match ban was annulled by UEFA.
The Croatia forward was initially suspended for allegedly diving to win a penalty against Celtic in their Champions League qualifier at the Emirates at the end of August which he successfully converted and the Gunners went on to win the game 3-1. The Premier League club lodged an appeal and UEFA have now announced the ban has been quashed.
The 26-year-old told the club's official website: "I'm very pleased that we have finally arrived at the truth. All we needed to do was to prove what happened and we have managed to do that. This decision makes me feel a lot better."
He added: "I certainly feel relieved now. I have had great support from my family, friends and of course everyone at the club.
"Now I just want to forget about this and think about our match against Standard Liege on Wednesday. I was always prepared for the match in Belgium because I had good feeling and I always remained positive about the outcome.
"Now we have a final result, I can now look forward to helping the team on Wednesday night.
"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 goals."
Comment 1 - 16 of 16
"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.
What a load of bo**ocks.... he knows he cheated, whinger knows he cheated and every level headed fan knows it!
Fu ck Eduardo, Arsenal and UEFA..... buch of tw ats the lot of em....
Green light for diving and cheating to go on...
see the Eduardoesqu action of the Zurich player that dived for a pen against Real Last night! If Eduardo had still been banned how many gunners would have been on here crying Wichhunt!
Hope they get pumped rotten this season, whinging bas tards!
The only reason it was dropped was because of Messi's headbutt went unpunished, UEFA cant be seen to show doublestandards.
stupid foolish adebayor
ha ha ha to all you jocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6.If Uefa says that it should not have been a penalty and that Eduardo did not dive. Then doesn't the referee get punished now for a decisive error. Eduardo did go down untouched, the Ref gave a penalty, Eduardo scored. Either Eduardo dived to gain a penalty and the ref was conned or the ref made a huge mistake. Uefa should act to clarify at least who was to blame and punsh the responsible person accordingly. Arsenal did deserve to win over both games ( they were the better team). But the penalty incident certainly was a turning point. IF eduardo had been red carded for feigning contact ( as McGeady) then Arsenal may have found it difficult to go on and in by such a margin as Eduardo proved to be both influential and productive in the game. SOMEONES HEAD SHOULD BE BITTEN OFF. either Eduardo for lying to uefa panel, Wenger for being an idiot and supporting his striker or the ref for such a blunder
Eduardo isn't a diver. Looking for divers in modern football? Checkout the Drogbas, Rooneys and Ronaldos of this world. Remember, Rooney's goal against Arsenal this season came off this kind of antics.
From obetta
What cheek! Bored of this anyway as everyone knows that if you play for a rich club like Arsenal then you are immune from the rules. Tired of hearing about his poor injury (if he's not ready he shouldn't play - not get a free pass on cheating) And tired of hearing about Rooney, Drogba and Gerard (they have all been caught in the past and properly booked) And tired of hearing about how its the officia;s fault for not catching it (seriously mate...the fella cheated) Everyone making these arguments sound like children with no real logical argument
Good thats cleared up the rules for any future dives - no punishment from FIFA.
Fu ck Eduardo (smug wee d ick), Whinger ( arrogant tw at) and UEFA for not having the bottle to deal with divers and cheats!
Matt - only those Arsenal tinted specs show u that... all the video sows is barely min contact AFTER he is diving... he got away with it, just admit what all true fans know, HE CHEATED, END OF!
8 - Extra caution!!! thats BS and u kbow it, see my ref to Matt above.
Call it what you like, but for a player who only returned from an injury that could have ended his career after two years extra caution may be seen as a dive. Eduardo can be forgiven for being extra careful especially when he has no history of diving like a few Man U players and a notable Ivorian striker at Chelsea.
I was there, there was contact but the video you see doesn't show the right angle, it is the goalie's upper body that makes contact not his legs.
Just shows what a joke UEFA are
Eduardo did cheat, his foot did touch buggages' knee (and not the other way round) and he did dramatically dive. It's no kind of argument to say that because other players dived in the past and sometimes won a penalty that Eduardo shouldn't be punished (it should have been a yellow card for Eduardo). Obviously UEFA have been listening to much to Wengers' mind games and alot of the football media siding with Eduardo. It is a disgracful decision.
N Whitfield
JUSTICE............OTHERWISE DROGBA, RINALDO, ROONEY WOULDNT HAVE PLAYED LAST YEAR,,,,,,,AND ROONEY WOULD HAVE TO BE BANNED FOR HIS DIVE AGAINST ARSENAL AND FOR ENGLAND,,,,SORRY GUYS, THATS THE FACTS!!HAVE A GLASS OF WATER AND SWALLOW THE PILL!
what a load of bo**ocks...
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