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.

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.

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

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.

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).

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