The Fifa president Sepp Blatter yesterday cleared Uefa to take retrospective action against Michael Essien for his dangerous over-the-top tackle on Liverpool's Dietmar Hamann.

Speaking after the European governing body had declared that it would not use video evidence to take action against the Chelsea player, who did not receive a card for the violent lunge, Blatter said governing bodies had a responsibility to take action in such cases.

"Since the 1994 World Cup the Fifa executive committee has said that TV evidence can be used in the case of fouls which have not been identified by the referee or identified wrongly," Blatter said. "As this was a Champions League match it must be handled by Uefa."

Essien's infringement on Tuesday night came two months after a similar tackle on Bolton's Tal Ben Haim was punished with only a yellow card. The English Football Association said it could not upgrade the penalty to a red, citing Fifa statutes, but yesterday Blatter appeared to overrule that judgment.

"If (a foul) was a blatant red card and only a yellow was awarded then the disciplinary body can intervene and make the yellow into a red card," he said.

Blatter was not alone in his negative comments. "Disgrace" and "Ess Clubbed" were two of the more hysterical headlines the back pages employed across pictures of the Chelsea midfielder's "reducer". "It was the worst tackle I have experienced in my career; I really feared I might have broken my leg," said Hamann.

Essien, who is 23 today, will seldom have encountered such negative publicity. Before his move to Stamford Bridge from Lyon last summer, he enjoyed adulation and admiration in almost equal measure. Regarded by fans as the beating heart of the side that scooped successive titles in 2004 and 2005, he also landed the player-of-the-year award in France's Championnat.

If he is to follow that up with this season's Premiership laurels Essien will probably have to do without the votes of Hamann and Ben Haim. "Essien is a great player and a fair player," the Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said after the Ben Haim incident. "He has an incredible record on disciplinary issues. He is a very clean player."

Indeed, Essien did not come to England with a reputation for thuggishness. "At Lyon he sometimes had this game that was hard, and he could do big fouls," said L'Equipe's editor-in-chief Jean-Michel Rouet. "He was always aggressive and had a hard-man image but I am sure that in absolutely no case he would set out to hurt an opponent. He takes risks on the pitch, but he is not the nasty type."

Nonetheless, Essien's disciplinary record last season stuck out like Hamann's sore shin. Lyon won France's fair play league despite, not because of him. In total the French champions picked up one red card and 54 yellow cards. Fourteen of those cautions belonged to Essien and his was the sole dismissal. He picked up another red card, paradoxically, in the pre-season Peace Cup.

"He has a double personality: he's very timid, very reserved and very nice; sometimes he just doesn't know his own strength," said Rouet. Essien often acted as his team's lightning conductor. In 37 matches, 25 yellow cards were distributed for fouls against him.