Soccer:Arsene Wenger today refuted his charge from Uefa for improper conduct in the fall-out from Arsenal's Champions League defeat to Barcelona. The Gunners manager, along with midfielder Samir Nasri, has been charged for "inappropriate language" towards referee Massimo Busacca.
Wenger approached the Swiss official after the final whistle at the Nou Camp, where Arsenal lost 3-1 after having striker Robin van Persie controversially sent off. The disciplinary case will be heard by Uefa on March 17th.
Busacca caused uproar by showing Van Persie a second yellow card for shooting at goal just one second after he had blown the whistle for offside — the Dutch forward claimed he had not heard it due to the noise of the 95,000-plus crowd.
Wenger confronted Busacca after the final whistle over the sending off and angry exchanges continued inside the tunnel.
Speaking at today’s press conference ahead of the FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester United, Wenger said: “I deny completely any charge. I do not understand where that comes from. It is a shame for me that the referee took the decision to send Robin van Persie off. It was the wrong decision."
The Frenchman added: "Arsenal football club has been punished. When you have a football game of that stature, you cannot come out with decisions like that and show a lot of arrogance on top of that. We can all understand that we can make wrong decisions but, after that, it becomes dictatorship. It's not common sense any more.
"A bit more humility would do Uefa some good. To apologise for what happened would be much better than to charge people who have done nothing wrong. Uefa has to have a little bit [of a] low profile after what happened. That would be better, more sensible and more adapted to the situation.
"We are out of the Champions League, we have lost one of our big ambitions, we have been punished with a lot of damages and, on top of that, we have to say sorry to Uefa. We have done nothing wrong. They organised the competition, they named the referees who come to the games. It's not to me [they should apologise]. They do not punish me. It's Arsenal football club that has been punished."
Uefa are aware of today’s comments from Wenger, with their disciplinary case into post-match events at the Nou Camp set to be heard next week. However, it remains to be seen whether his latest outburst will bring any additional charges from the governing body.
Wenger revealed captain Cesc Fabregas had suffered a recurrence of his hamstring problem, and would be out for possibly two weeks.
“He is very disappointed because it is becoming a bit of a problem for him, but it is very superficial,” said the Arsenal boss.
Arsenal could also consider an emergency loan as cover for injured keeper Wojciech Szczesny, Wenger confirmed.
