The biggest prize in European football is set to take place this Saturday, but one influential Frenchman will not be taking part due to one act of self-recklessness, which has seen him reduced to watching the champion’s league final rather than playing within it.
Bayern Munich will clash with Inter Milan in the Santiago Bernabeu this weekend for the title of champion’s of Europe, with both teams looking to become treble winners. However, Munich will miss their star man Franck Ribery after a bid to revoke his 3-match ban was rejected yesterday.
Known for his pace, energy, skill and passing, the 27-year-old winger will only watch from the stands in Spain, after picking up a straight red card when he went in late, and high, on Lyon striker Lisandro Lopez in the semi-finals of the competition. Ribery’s recklessness may have been unintentional, but surely the winger should have had a little more sense?
Munich’s appeal to have the sentence reduced feel on deaf ears, as the European football’s governing body rejected their request of a reduction of the ban earlier this month. The French international then tried his luck at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but they too discarded his case. A CAS statement was released, it read:
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport has rendered its final decision in the appeal filed by FC Bayern Munich and Franck Ribery against the decision taken by the UEFA Appeals Body on May 5, 2010.”
“A hearing was held at the CAS headquarters today, during which the parties and their legal representatives were heard.”
It goes on to say:
“The CAS Panel has dismissed the appeal and confirmed the three-game suspension imposed by the UEFA appeals body on the Bayern Munich player Franck Ribery. Accordingly, the player will not be eligible to play in the final of the 2010 Champion’s League.”
The reasons for their decision will be released in the next few days. But it seems pretty much set in stone that the Munich player will miss the greatest night of his professional life. Ribery has blown his chance of playing in front of a capacity crowd of 80,000 and millions worldwide, because of one careless tackle, which begs the question, should all suspensions be wiped clean when reaching the final of the champion’s league?
Many players have missed the opportunity to participate in the final for the exact same reasons as Ribery has incurred. United’s Darren Fletcher missed last year’s final against Barcelona in Rome, after he picked up a controversial red card against Arsenal, leaving the Scotsman heartbroken at the time. In 1999 Paul Scholes missed arguably Manchester United’s greatest night in history after he was banned from the final, when he to picked up a suspension.
Many fans across the world will feel (like me), that UEFA need to go back to the drawing board and look to scrap these ridiculous suspension rules when it comes to the final. As fans we want to see the best players partake in the biggest competitions, and while this rule is in affect, we run the risk of not seeing this.
Player’s carrying yellow-cards into the semi-finals of the competition should have them relinquished, in order for them to be given a shot at the final. If this plan is fashioned in the near future, then UEFA would be doing both football fans and players a huge favour. So we urge you UEFA, please rethink this regulation for next season’s campaign for the good of the game.
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