After reading the article about the punishment handed out to both Valencia and Inter players and the fines handed to both clubs, I was slightly amused by this line: "Uefa opted not to impose a stadium ban on Valencia, who play Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the competition." If the Spanish side were playing any other team in the quarter-finals, do you think that UEFA would have taken the same stance? Since they will be playing Chelsea at the Mestalla - had their stadium been ordered to be empty - Chelsea would (in theory) have a better chance of getting through to the semi-finals. The last two seasons has seen Chelsea's relationship with UEFA deteriorate to the extent that their manager was called the "enemy of the game" by Europe's governing body. The whole thing might be innocent, but I can't help but wonder whether this is UEFA's way of not letting Chelsea's game against Valencia get much easier. The suspension of the players was mandatory, so the issue of the stadium ban can be swept under the rug for them. What do Chelsea fans think?
What about Lille? The team and players look like they got off with no punishment at all, so did the people responsible for the ground and the near crush. Also Inter got fined and forced to play behind closed doors when they threw missiles and hit Dida the Milan keeper yet the Lille fans threw missiles and it looked like they threw a lot more and hit Neville but no action has been taken and probably wont be. Platini - French.....
I don't recall UEFA ever banning use of a stadium because of a player fight. This is limited to crowd trouble.
na i dont think a stadium ban is the proper punishment, but the article line does make it look like the reason they havnt is because they are playing chelsea. good spot
I think the UEFA board members just FULL STOP hate Chelsea. I guess they just want to make life as hard as it can be for Chelsea. Plus, you could argue that Valencia had player troubles, not crowd troubles. I think there was a stadium ban, starting in that game where Dida got hit on the head, think it was the Milan derby last year....
They didnt ban the Celtic game at the San Siro after all that rioting in Italy after the Sicilian derby...
Mmm, thats coz no one in Italy wants to watch Celtic play Milan xD jks. No, i think it only applied to Serie A games.
You don't half make excuses! Next you'll be saying the ball didn't cross the line in the 05 semi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
