McDonald surprised by UEFA u-turn

Tue, 15 Sep 22:01:03 2009

Celtic striker Scott McDonald believes UEFA's decision to quash Eduardo's two-match ban for an alleged dive will make it more difficult to stamp out simulation from the game.

The Arsenal striker was initially suspended by Europe's governing body on a charge of "deceiving the referee" after winning and scoring a penalty against the Hoops in their Champions League qualifier at the Emirates Stadium at the end of August.

McDonald, who arrived in Israel on Tuesday afternoon for Thursday's Europa League clash with Hapoel Tel Aviv, said: "You've got to look at it from their perspective. It is a tough job to pick every player out that falls over, but they set a precedent, they went with it and now they have turned it on its head again."

He added: "So it will be interesting to see what happens next. It was surprising that they have gone back on their word.

"But we can't really argue that they didn't deserve to beat us over the two games. The penalty was a turning point because it made it 1-0 but if you look over the 180 minutes then they deserved to go through."

The former Motherwell striker added: "There is a lot of pressure on these guys and if they do pick up on an incident, a lot is made of it.

"You seen that with incidents that happened after the Eduardo one.

"There are cameras everywhere and it seemed that every time someone fell over, there was an issue with it.

"But how long has it been an issue? We haven't really said anything up until now. Some of it you can call clever play and some of it, yes, it is cheating.

"As players, we don't like it and it is frustrating."

 

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  1. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    point 2.yes mcgeady did dive so stop living in denial­ and stop been paranoid. he dived and got caught got a­ 2nd booking and was sent off why cant those tims grasp­ this. what part of cheating dont they­ understand/ENGLISH SAM

    From john, on Wed 16 Sep 2:11PM

  2. PT7 by the way Im a GUNNAR from Kentish town not a­ scot.

    From Chris B, on Wed 16 Sep 10:26AM

  3. PT7 when your only striker on the park is sent off for­ diving OR gets 10 points, a penalty and a goal it­ certainly was a turning point for the game. NAE STRIKER­ YA DAFTIE MEANS YE CANNAE ATTACK. or are you just some­ monkey from the IBROX APE HOUSE

    From Chris B, on Wed 16 Sep 10:24AM

  4. Time to leave this issue alone bhoys and­ "GIRLS" Letsface it, if it was McGreedy doing­ the diving to earn a penalty (although he needs to­ improve on his technique) all would be fine and­ well.Lets concentrate on the next game against the ­ lads with the peeled winkys.

    From spanky, on Wed 16 Sep 9:16AM

  5. Bottom line is the camera's showed he dived, then­ smiled at the Arsenal fans! PROVE ME WRONG!!!

    From Mazz McK, on Wed 16 Sep 8:21AM

  6. Point 5! Who's McCready???

    From Mazz McK, on Wed 16 Sep 8:21AM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    PT.6 WHAT GAME WERE YOU WATCHING ? INCIDENT WAS A­ TURNING POINT , YOU ARE HAVING A LAUGH . THE PLOUGHBOYS­ WERE NOT IN IT BOTH GAMES AND TO CLAIM THEY WERE IS­ TYPICAL TIM ARROGANCE

    From Duncan, on Wed 16 Sep 7:55AM

  8. 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

    From Chris B, on Wed 16 Sep 7:19AM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Remember it was an alleged dive and it's difficult­ to prove, however, McCready did dive, end of story, and­ he got his punishment.

    From css, on Wed 16 Sep 6:35AM
  10. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    So what is the wee fat moaning faced dud on about its­ ok to cheat as long as you are clever about it ?

    From Duncan, on Tue 15 Sep 10:04PM

  11. stewpotg2001 ay and he took his punishment with a ban­ against Dundee
    Eduardo didn't accept any blame or­ punishment. UEFA is a shambles anyhow

    From seaniebhoy163, on Tue 15 Sep 9:01PM

  12. #1 how about I answer on his behalf ...no, he ­ didn't!
    .
    p.s. WTF is a hypogrite?

    From StelioS, on Tue 15 Sep 8:42PM

  13. McDonald are you not a bit of a hypogrite , did that­ wee @#$% McGeady not do the same for your lot against­ Hibs ????

    From george, on Tue 15 Sep 8:32PM
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