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European football’s ruling body UEFA have charged Arsenal striker Eduardo with diving to win a penalty against Celtic in their midweek clash in Lodnon.
The Brazil-born Croatian could now be handed a UEFA two-match suspension that will rule him out of the Gunners’ first two Champions League group games.
Following complaints by Celtic and Scottish football bosses UEFA decided to study video evidence of the incident, which saw Eduardo falling theatrically to the ground despite no evidence of contact being made with Celtic ‘keeper Artur Boruc.
UEFA subsequently opened disciplinary proceedings against the Croatia international for “deceiving the referee”.
A statement on Friday said: “Having studied video evidence of the incident in question, the UEFA disciplinary inspector decided to charge the player concerned. The UEFA control and disciplinary body will examine the case on September 1.”
It means Eduardo could now be sanctioned in accordance with Article 10, paragraph 1c of the UEFA disciplinary regulations (misconduct of players) which states: “Players may be suspended for two competition matches, or for a specified period, for acting with the obvious intent to cause any match official to make an incorrect decision or supporting his error of judgment and thereby causing him to make an incorrect decision.”
If banned he would miss Arsenal’s away trip to Standard Liege on September 16 and the home match with Olympiakos on September 29.
UEFA’s decision drew a furious response from Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, who accused the governing body of conducting a witch-hunt against Eduardo.
“I find it a complete disgrace and unacceptable. We won’t accept the way we have been treated in this case for two reasons,” Wenger said.
“I believe that you can debate whether it was a penalty or not. For me it’s a witch-hunt that we see and not an objective judgement of a case.
“This charge implies there was intent and a desire to cheat the referee. Having watched the pictures again there was nothing conclusive.
“It singles out a player in Europe to be a cheat and that is not acceptable. UEFA has taken action that is not defendable.”
The Frenchman believes Eduardo took evasive action when Boruc came out to save because he was worried about the career-threatening broken leg he sustained two seasons ago.
And Wenger claimed UEFA would have difficulty proving the 26-year-old intended to deceive the referee.
He said: “We will defend our player as far as we can because he is not being treated fairly.
“It’s funny in football because you can break the legs of players and it doesn’t make a debate for anybody. But this case has been all over the world and Eduardo has been treated like he’s killed someone.
“I’m the first to say that it doesn’t look like a penalty but it’s another thing to say that he went down with intent. I wish good luck in proving that having seen the pictures again.
“Having seen his leg after that tackle I don’t blame him for getting out of the way of the goalkeeper.
“They’ve opened the door to every single decision made by a referee can now on be challenged. They’ve opened a very dangerous door there.”
Scottish Football Association chief executive Gordon Smith had on Thursday called for UEFA to punish Eduardo for showing disrespect to the game.
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