I ordered the Chateau Pape de Neuf and you give me the Montepulciano?
The UEFA wizards ban Arsene Wenger for three matches for the offense of having a verbal altercation with referee Damir Skomina after the Milan Champions League match. Wenger is also fined £33,000.
Skomina was the referee who allowed Robinho’s goal to stand after receiving a pass from a clearly offside Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Milan striker was also guilty of diving following incidental contact with Johan Djourou which lead Skomina to award a penalty. An enterprising and physical Milan side brushed aside a soulless Arsenal on a moth eaten San Siro pitch with Skomina’s decision playing an instrumental part in a bruising 4 to nothing rout.
Wenger felt Skomina gave away too many free kick calls to Milan in midfield as the Italian side proved too wily in milking any touchy feely stuff. He made that clear in his post match statements.
Unhappy manager venting at referee. Is that all? A three match touchline ban for blowing off some steam. Wenger has now been banned for six UEFA matches which gives him the dubious distinction of being one ahead of Jose Mourinho who of course only alleged UEFA was fixing matches in favour of Barcelona in his post match interview. Where is the sense of proportion?
Naturally, Wenger will appeal. No word from UEFA on that San Siro pitch though. Is it acceptable to see players who cost their clubs millions of pounds to slip, trip, and break their legs on a substandard pitch?