There is no way on earth I can take Celtic’s side in the aftermath of the incident last Wednesday.
When a fan invades the pitch and ‘attacks’ one of the opposition players, it is unforgivable and the Scottish team deserves some UEFA punishment for allowing it to happen. However, and this is a big however, just how much can a player overact before he too deserves punishing?
Television replays clearly indicated that the stupid fan did little more
than give the Milan keeper a little slap on the shoulder. And the insignificance of the injury was indicated when Dida initially started to chase his assailant.
However, as the realisation struck that maybe, just maybe, he could get the result of the match overturned by faking serious injury he slumped to the ground and there he remained until he was stretchered off. How utterly ridiculous.
As I said, it is only fair that Celtic are punished. Maybe a substantial fine followed by being forced to play their next match behind closed doors.
But, equally, UEFA have to look at Dida’s reaction and ask him some serious questions. It’s one thing diving in the heat of a match amidst the hustle and bustle of open play.
It’s quite another when ‘simulation’ takes on all together more sinister and devious objective.
Ironically, this is the second time Dida has been involved in a similar incident. But on the previous occasion he was hit on the shoulder by a lit flare during a match against Inter – a more than justifiable reason to go to ground.
That incident resulted in Inter being fined, forced to play matches behind closed doors and having the result of that game turned into a 5-0 defeat.
And, as I said, while Celtic do deserve some punishment for this mini pitch invasion, it should be nothing like as severe as that one.
To their total credit, Milan have said they will not be pursing the incident and will definitely not be seeking to get the result overturned.
Even so, somebody needs to have a quiet word in Dida’s ear about his antics.
It will have to be a quiet word because if you were to shout at him he would probably need a stretcher!
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No sooner have I said Avram Grant is out of his depth than he masterminds a magnificent away victory over Valencia.
Chelsea’s 2-1 win in Spain came thanks to a performance that looked to all intents and purposes like the sort of display they used to put in under Mourinho – backs to the wall, never-say-die and bursting with team spirit.
Of course, if Valencia’s finishing had been better then the result could have been very different. But it wasn’t and instead we saw a victory for a Chelsea team whose desire was epitomised by John Terry in his face mask.
A few days ago I really thought Grant would not last the week. Top marks to the man for proving so many millions of us wrong.
Any more performances like that and the ‘normal one’ might end up lasting the whole season.
* * *
Quote of the week goes to Thierry Henry who has apparently found that life in Spain is not as easy as he thought it was going to be.
“I feel okay. The only difference is that in training you have the Press – and they want to come back home and sleep with you. They are just always there,” he moaned.
Ah. How he must long for the days when it was only The Sun and The Daily Star making up stories about him.
* * *
A recent poll in England has shown that more and more football fans are becoming concerned about the number of foreign players in the game. Thanks to EU law, players from any nation within the union can now play freely in any country in the union.
At face value it sounds fair but in reality it is having a hugely detrimental effect on the national teams within the EU as less local lads are able to make it through the system.
The poll, carried out by the BBC, shows that 56 per cent of people are in favour of a quota being introduced on the number of foreigner any team can play.
And the findings have been backed by FIFA president Sepp Blatter who has vowed to fight the EU on the basis that football is a unique employment situation and should not be governed by the same freedom of employment laws as other business.
Normally, as regular readers are aware, I find Blatter to be an irritating jobsworth of a man. But, on this subject, I can honestly say he is spot on.
Football does need a quota on the number of foreigners per team. It’s the only way to protect the future of the international game as we know it.
And any Premier League club that disagrees will only do so because they are already regularly fielding teams with few, if any, English players in it. And that is just wrong.
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