Arsene Wenger has branded UEFA's decision to charge Eduardo with diving a "complete disgrace" and accused them of staging a "witch-hunt" against the Arsenal striker.
European football's governing body has opened disciplinary proceedings against the Croatia international for "deceiving the referee" in Wednesday's 3-1 victory over Celtic.
"I find it a complete disgrace and unacceptable. We won't accept the way we have been treated in this case for two reasons," said Wenger. "I believe that you can debate whether it was a penalty or not. For me it's a witch-hunt that we see and not an objective judgement of a case."
He added: "This charge implies there was intent and a desire to cheat the referee. Having watched the pictures again there was nothing conclusive.
"It singles out a player in Europe to be a cheat and that is not acceptable. UEFA has taken action that is not defendable."
Eduardo went down midway through the first half of the Champions League qualifier despite there appearing to be no contact with Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc.
Referee Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez still awarded a penalty, converted by Eduardo who was subsequently condemned by Celtic.
Meanwhile, Celtic boss Tony Mowbray was reluctant to become embroiled in the controversy and said: "I haven't given it a second thought.
"I have seen the incident again but it doesn't matter, we are out of the Champions League. The bigger picture is UEFA want to clamp down on simulation, to make a mark and if they feel they need to do it, then so be it.
"Sometimes there has to be a fall guy. But it is not my decision, I don't want to condemn anybody."






Comment 25 - 44 of 44
Eduardo take Ronaldo place . The only thing Ronaldo worry about EPL is that who gonna dive if he is not playing for EPL anymore , now Ronaldo must be the happiest man on earth .
wengers talking s%4^t definite dive hes a cheat
it's only good if they punish ALL the divers especially in 1-0 win, arsenal still scored 4 without that penalty, bur he should not do that. and should pay a fine
ArsenalWhinger # 7
Are you Arsene Wanger?
If I'd been in goal instead of Borat, I'd have made sure that Eduardo had gone down with a few swift uppercuts to the head and I'd have got away with it. And poor old Wanger, he's talking himself into a very deep hole, just like Patsypool FC, Benny The Ball and those Patsypool fans who never seen anything either. Ha, ha. LMAO
INWA
If Rsole Vanker had any balls he would describe Eduardos dive as a "complete disgrace"
If Edwardo can be charged by Platini et al for cheating a referee, why cant they do same for referees cheating on players and teams? Like Ovrebo cheating on Chelsea
One of the all time great British Diving Championships (move over Brian Phelps) was Alan Shearer, who admitted diving to try to con a penalty whilst playing for England, because he was frustrtated at not being able to score. The big Geordie Nugget scored most of his goals by conning penalties, and he's still regared as a great striker! So papa_gooch (#31) may be right when he says that 'diving is an art form, and should be embraced...'
It just isn't as artistic if your team is on the receiving end of the roguery
I think he deserves to be punished....Just think abt this....looking at the replays, it is clear that he goes down without any contact....And even if we take Wenger's words in his defence "that he goes down to avoid another injury...." it does not add up....
As a player, when u go down like that, u know it is not a penalty because there wasnt any contact....So the least any honest player would have done, was to just get up and be quiet....But what does he do?
He gets up, sees that the ref has awarded a penalty, shamelessly goes and picks up the ball, and takes the penalty himself....I think THAT makes him a CHEAT....
I don't know about anybody else, but for me....he has cheated, and hence deserves to be punished....
number 30 papa gallos shut tha fack up you greek idiot
Unknown U # 36
Watch you don't wet yourself.
the way i see it is uefa as much as they are fools had to start with someone it just happened to eduardo, it could of been ronaldo, drogba gerrard all first class divers its just eduardo's was in one of the first high profile games of the season and for wenger to claim its a witchhunt after he had said he lied about not seeing incidents well nothing else to say after that....
Premier Talk Sh*it League
1) Benny The Ball ( by default )
2) Arsene Wenger ( new entry, man, what a lot of sh*it )
3) Mark Hughes ( Lescott )
4) Barry Fry ( he just does )
5) Sepp Blater ( can't help himself )
6) Jimmy Armfield ( commentary )
7) Rafaforpope ( well you all know (c: )
8) Martin O’Neill ( ummm and ahhhh )
9) darren m ( Man City delusions )
10)Ronaldo ( stay or go, no top ten complete without him )
11) Stan Collymore ( commentary )
12) Florentino Pérez ( let's see how they get on )
BARCELONA 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS
In 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months BARCELONA 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS
In 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months BARCELONA 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS
In 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months
I've got loads of respect for the gunners, but Wenger's got it wrong this time. Mind you, nobody will ever out cheat that W @ N K E R Ronaldo. Without Ronaldos cheating I doubt Man U would have won anything over the past few years. The man's a total PENDEJO. Look it up. It's a wicked word init. GOOD LUCK TOMORROW. BEAT THE SCUM
At the end of the day diving is an art in itself and should be embraced by us all. After all these ridiculous derogatory comments you should ask yourself, if eduardo had done a pike and two and a half twists before landing at Boruc's feet would you not be impressed and tempted to applause him, well would you. All he is guilty of is not doing it as extravagantly as he could
Bang out of order Arsene....................he cheated and got caught and you back him ........ now pay the penalty
( pun intended )
.PS............. hope they do it across the board now whoever the player,club or competition.
Wenger should be axed with eduardo on this issue for uttering such statement on an issue that only a blind will claim after a 2nd and 3rd watch of the replay will still claim there was a contact that deserve a penalty against celtic.
He told us about 2 weeks ago that he defends his boys who are clearly in the wrong even if he knows they are wrong in order to encourage them and now he is in defence of a cheat. He is even accusing uefa of witch-hunting
He is shameless person who will claim publicly he can tell lies and still did. I've not seen such a character of a public figure. very sad
Uefa could really use this now as a starting block to sort out divers. Make players be honest.... if they fall over but there was no contact and they dont let the ref know this when he gives a foul then ban him for decieving the ref, i play football and on a few occasions have slipped over and been given a foul when i know it wasnt..... i could easily turn to the ref and say ref i slipped it wasnt a foul and the game could be easily restarted with a drop ball
The English game is by far NOT the worst league for diving. Look at the Italians and Spanish/ God help us when the World Cup arrives. There wont be too many strikers left for the final if they ban everyone they consider to have dived. Platini and his foggies are always on an English witch hunt. Lets hope that everyone who dives receieves the same punishment, but I doubt it.
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account