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.