Referee’s controversial call sparks Uefa case
European football’s governing body, Uefa, has charged Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger with improper conduct for comments to Swiss referee Massimo Busacca.
The London team’s midfielder Samir Nasri was also charged after his team’s Champions League elimination against Barcelona in Spain on Tuesday night.
Wenger argued furiously with Busacca on the sidelines after Arsenal’s 3-1 loss, with the dispute continuing in the tunnel. Arsenal lost 4-3 on aggregate.
Wenger was angry that forward Robin van Persie was sent off with a controversial yellow card decision in the 56th minute with the score at 1-1. Busacca ruled that Van Persie had deliberately kicked the ball away when shooting at goal immediately after being ruled offside.
Uefa’s disciplinary panel will hear the case on March 17. Article 10 of Uefa’s disciplinary rules states that players or officials should be suspended for at least two European competition matches in cases of “pestering or insulting any match official”.
Busacca, 42, an international referee since 1999 who officiated the 2008 Champions League final, travelled to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where he was called “the worst referee so far” by the host nation’s coach Carlos Alberto Parreira.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.