Justice Files: Eduardo Handed Two Game Ban; Axel Witsel Three Months.

By: chris | September 1st, 2009

‘Tis the season to lay down the law, so big boys UEFA and bigger boys Belgian FA have laid down some serious justice in the wake of some serious crimes.

Have you heard about the Eduardo dive? No? Congratulations on waking up from that coma today, then. It’s becoming nauseating, so while appeals will surely be lodged, I’d like to personally thank UEFA for getting this out of the way early.

The European Acronym levied a 2 game suspension, ruling Eduardo out of the first two games of the Champions League group stage. Yadda yadda yadda, a hundred thousand words said already. But the bigger ban news comes in the form of an incident which took place in Belgium over the weekend.

Most who venture beyond “casual fan” know of Axel Witsel. For those who don’t, he’s a Belgian midfield phenom for Standard Liege linked to many a giant, notably Real Madrid, ManU and Liverpool. If you haven’t been keeping up with the Jupiler League, or reading most blogs, he got in some serious trouble this weekend. Despite his bountiful talents, he poorly mistimed a tackle. So poorly it snapped Marcin Wasilewski’s tibia quite literally in half. The whole of Belgium and the illegal streaming community (shame!) got to see Marcin on the ground, one half of his leg going in the wrong direction, screaming his bloody head off for good reason. I won’t post the clip, but here’s the video from the appropriately named Dirty Tackle, which I strongly suggest you watch at your own discretion. (As a past sufferer of leg injuries, I screamed like a little girl. There.)

Axel, whose eyes during the tackle never seemed to leave those of Wasilewski, was given an immediate sending off. Today, the Belgian FA have him a long, long time to think about his actions: 10 game ban from the Jupiler League and he won’t be able to participate in Belgian Cup action. In short, it’s a little less than a 3 month ban. It’s a stiff penalty, but I’ve always been under the impression a tackle with intent to injure should suffer the same ban as the layoff for the injured party. Problem is, in football and elsewhere, it’s nearly impossible to prove intent, and we can’t say for sure Witsel’s motives were devious anyway (though the two do have a history).

Now this is where it comes full circle. Eduardo, as everyone knows, has his leg broken horrifically against Birmingham 18mos back, and is only now truly fit and ready to go full out. But this suspension means he’ll be suspended for the very first game of the Champions League group stage. Who does Arsenal play in that first game? Standard Liege. Who isn’t suspended for UEFA competitions and thus will be playing in that game? Axel Witsel.

Suddenly I don’t think Eduardo is too upset about his suspension.

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Joe

Doesn't add up. You don't know he intended it. At full speed it looks nothing like intent or even that it wasn't an accident. He could have been turning on the ball and the tackler got to the ball first, moving the ball thus putting his leg in danger.

I'm not excusing, but I still don't him trying to purposely end the other player's career. Again, this is not Roy Keane's obvious attempt to go for all man. It's very blurred and gray.

I feel sorry for both players. More so for the injured, but if this had caused an also promising player to be banned for what could have been an accident, recklessness, or just simple abandon, that would have been bad also.
sscouser

Someone may intentionally injure somebody and then show a lot of remorse. Does showing remorse mean that he didn't do it intentionally? Are you sure it was Witsel's intent to break the leg? Had Zidane killed Matarazzi with that head butt I wonder what people would have said? He had the intent to kill?
Oli Davies

I agree with Luka, Witsel showed intent and no remorse.

When Chris Morgan of Sheffield United fractured Iain Humes skull last season, all he got was a yellow card and no suspension. The reason was 'because the refferee had already dealt with the incident.

Although the difference with Witsel is that he has been suspended, it still isn't long enough.

A step in the right direction, maybe, but not there yet.
Luka

I hope that I will never see the incident or a still pic, ever! I am yet to see Eduardo's. Still, intent or not - if you destroy someone's leg like that, you've done something wrong and in my opinion, 10 games is NOTHING! How long did Pepe get for his little tantrum? In fact, punching a player gets you longer than that (Navarro?). Eduardo = 2 games, Witsel = 10 games. That just doesn't seem right...
sscouser

Intent is NOT ALWAYS hard to prove. Look at this "Bosingwa kicks Benayoun" Video:
http://footballblips.dailyrada...

The linesman was right there but no red card. So, will additional officials behind the goals reduce "dive penalties"?
EuroSoccer

Where were all those UEFA members when Ronaldo dived almost every match???
sandrahn

Intent is something very difficult to prove.

Then there's the issue of recklessness. The law doesn't make any excuses for you if you drive recklessly and injure or kill someone. You may not have intended to hurt anyone but your irresponsibility cause you to do just that.
phantompong

I'm not sure what my reaction upon watching the video was, although I'm pretty sure it involved a wide-open mouth and my heart somewhere in the vicinity of my throat.

About the ban, though, I've very mixed feelings. It's very hard to prove intent. But I have to point out that Pepe got a ten game ban for kicking at Casquero and then punching Juan Albín. There was a lot of intent in that, but neither player was left much worse for wear (Casquero, of course, got up to take - and flub - the penalty he'd just won). In the light of that, Axel Witsel's 10 games looks very lenient considering the consequences of his tackle, even if it wasn't intentional (and I'm not about to watch the tackle again to try and figure that out).
sandrahn

I can't watch the video.

Kudos for making that Eduardo-Witzel connection in the CL, didn't even think of it!
Peter

Extended highlights of the attack can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.... UEFA should suspend him from the Champions League as well - 10 games is nothing for an assault like this.
Johonna

I followed the link but the still on the video was enough to scare me away from actually watching it.

I cant believe they are letting him play anywhere. That was horrific.