Barcelona to appeal Iniesta suspension
Reuters - Tuesday 19 April 2011, 15:45
MADRID - Barcelona have decided to
appeal UEFA's proposal to ban Andres Iniesta for one Champions
League match for deliberately collecting a yellow card.
The Spain midfielder was cautioned in the first leg of
Barca's quarter-final against Shakhtar Donetsk, which the
Spanish club won 5-1, for not retreating the required distance
at a freekick, meaning he missed the return game in Ukraine.
UEFA officials at the match alleged Iniesta provoked the
card so he could serve the standard one-match ban in the second
leg and would have a clean slate for the semi-finals.
If the ban stands, Iniesta will miss the first leg of
Barca's Champions League semi-final against La Liga rivals Real
Madrid at the Bernabeu on April 27.
"FC Barcelona believe that the arguments outlined in their
appeal, based on the good faith of the player and the
disproportionate nature of the proposed sanction will be
sufficient to rebut these allegations," the club said on their
website.
"The UEFA disciplinary committee will make a decision on the
case on Wednesday," they added.
At a news conference on Tuesday, coach Pep Guardiola denied
Iniesta had deliberately gotten himself booked.
"We will wait for UEFA's decision but if we had provoked the
card we would have immediately substituted him but he played on
despite the risk of his dismissal," Guardiola said.