Wenger demands apology

an apology for Robin van Persie’s controversial red card against Barcelona.
Wenger is still furious that referee Massimo Busacca sent off Van Persie for a second booking when the Dutch forward fired a shot wide one second after the whistle blew for offside in Tuesday night’s Champions League last 16, second leg at the Nou Camp.
Arsenal were ahead on aggregate at the time, but went on to lose the match and the tie and an irate Wenger was involved in a confrontation with Busa-cca in the tunnel after the final whistle.
Uefa responded by hitting Wenger and Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri with improper conduct charges for “inappropriate language” towards the Swiss official.
But Wenger believes it is Uefa who should be apologising to him for Busacca’s decision and their refusal to acknowledge the referee made a mistake.
“I deny completely any charge. It is the kind of thing that is difficult to understand because it was a shame the referee took the wrong decision to send off Robin Van Persie,” Wenger said yesterday.
“A bit more humility would do Uefa some good, to apologise for what happened would be much better than charge people who did nothing wrong.
“Uefa should have a little bit of a low profile after what happened on Tuesday. It would be more sensible and adapted to what happened.
“This decision frustrated us and everyone who loves football. The first leg was fantastic but the second leg has been destroyed and the only thing people remember is the sending off.”
Wenger is clearly still seething over the perceived injustice of Van Persie’s dismissal and the damage it did to Arsenal’s hopes of upsetting Barcelona.
The Frenchman risked landing himself in further trouble as he accused the European game’s governing body of arrogance and acting like a dictatorship.
“They (Uefa) do not punish me. It is Arsenal Football Club who has been punished,” he said. “We are out of the Champions League and have lost one of our big ambitions, and on top of that we have to say sorry to Uefa when we have done nothing wrong. They organise the competition and decide what referees come to games.
“When you have a game of that stature, you can’t come out with decisions like that and show a lot of arrogance on top of that.” – AFP.