Arsene Wenger is to contest the charges brought against him by UEFA – after describing European soccer’s governing body as ‘arrogant and a dictatorship’.
The Arsenal manager and his midfielder Samir Nasri have been charged for ‘inappropriate language’ towards referee Massimo Busacca in Barcelona on Wednesday night.
Busacca was involved in an end of match altercation with the Arsenal pair after he red-carded striker Robin Van Persie.
The Gunners lost the game 3-1 on the night and crashed out 4-3 on aggregate as Wenger blasted the referee for his decision.
Now the Arsenal boss is vowing to fight the UEFA charge tooth and nail.
“The only thing that people remember is that the sending-off killed the game,” said Wenger.
“A bit more humility would do UEFA some good. To apologize for what happened would be much better than charge people who have done nothing wrong.”
The Frenchman is also adamant that UEFA, and not Arsenal, should be held to account for the incidents in Barcelona.
He claimed: “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 organized the competition. They named the referees who come to the games.
“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 is not any more common sense.”
Wenger refused to reveal details of his bust-up with Busacca at the end of the game.
“I will keep that for UEFA if they really want to know because I will have some interesting statements to make about some statements made by people who were not supposed to say what they said,”added Wenger.
“You can check any statement I made on television after the game. If I have done anything wrong I am ready to be charged.
“As for what is said in the tunnel, if you can get just one time where I have come out on what has been said against me or against the referee in a tunnel during my 15 years in England, I will pay for you to have a big holiday.”
The Arsenal manager and his midfielder Samir Nasri have been charged for ‘inappropriate language’ towards referee Massimo Busacca in Barcelona on Wednesday night.
Busacca was involved in an end of match altercation with the Arsenal pair after he red-carded striker Robin Van Persie.
The Gunners lost the game 3-1 on the night and crashed out 4-3 on aggregate as Wenger blasted the referee for his decision.
Now the Arsenal boss is vowing to fight the UEFA charge tooth and nail.
“The only thing that people remember is that the sending-off killed the game,” said Wenger.
“A bit more humility would do UEFA some good. To apologize for what happened would be much better than charge people who have done nothing wrong.”
The Frenchman is also adamant that UEFA, and not Arsenal, should be held to account for the incidents in Barcelona.
He claimed: “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 organized the competition. They named the referees who come to the games.
“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 is not any more common sense.”
Wenger refused to reveal details of his bust-up with Busacca at the end of the game.
“I will keep that for UEFA if they really want to know because I will have some interesting statements to make about some statements made by people who were not supposed to say what they said,”added Wenger.
“You can check any statement I made on television after the game. If I have done anything wrong I am ready to be charged.
“As for what is said in the tunnel, if you can get just one time where I have come out on what has been said against me or against the referee in a tunnel during my 15 years in England, I will pay for you to have a big holiday.”
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