BASEL BRUSHED ASIDE
BLUES CRUISE THROUGH AWAY LEG TO SURELY PROGRESS IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
TO say that City’s relationship with UEFA has not been wonderful in recent years would be an understatement.
Be it the decision to fine the club more for tardiness than Porto fans racially abusing Mario Balotelli, punishing City supporters for the racist behaviour of CSKA Moscow fans or simply FFP, there are a bundle of reasons why the Champions League anthem gets booed whenever it is aired in earshot of Blues.
If it may take a while for relations to resemble anything remotely warm, there are signs that the ice is thawing where the fans are concerned.
More than three-quarters of supporters responding to a poll by the 1894 Group in November advocated singing City songs over the strains of the official anthem instead.
Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola and the City hierarchy will be delighted with the latest output from UEFA HQ.
The Blues boss has been irritated in the past few months by bad challenges going unpunished.
Having seen little action taken, the club has written to Mike Riley, head of the referees body PGMOL, to seek a meeting in an attempt to get better protection for ALL players, with one suggestion to stop protecting yellowcarded players from having their offences reviewed by the FA’s video panel.
City are keen to get the support of the FA and other clubs in their drive to stop reckless tackles. And while they may still be waiting on the domestic front, UEFA have made it clear where they stand on the issue.
Ahead of the resumption of the Champions League, they have asked referees to crack down on serious foul play in order to ensure that the beautiful game remains that way, instructing them to ‘punish those who commit offences or behave in a way that has an impact on how football is perceived.’
As well as dangerous tackles, any attempt to put pressure on or provoke match officials are also cited as examples that should not be tolerated as they try to improve the experience both for those on the pitch and everyone watching.
“We need to have players playing, so they must be protected on the field,” UEFA’s chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina said.
“We do not want situations where a player’s future is put in doubt because of serious injury caused by a challenge, whether it is intentional, or is unintentional and the player making the challenge is taking a risk of causing injury. “Players must understand that they have to respect their opponents and show the same positive behaviour to them that they would want to receive themselves.”
We need to have players playing, so they must be protected on the field Pierluigi Collina