THE VOTE How should Uefa punish Lille?

Ollie Irish

21st, February 2007

9 Comments

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I’m sure we’re all agreed that Lille should be punished in some way for their part in last night’s Champions League tie with Man Utd. Neither their players, coaching staff, fans or the authorities at the ground (which was actually Len’s stadium, not Lille’s) covered themselves in glory.

I don’t think Uefa will chuck them out of the competition, but nor do I believe that they should be thrown out. If it was my decision, I’d fine Lille £50,000 and quietly tell them that if anything like that ever happens again, they’re headed for a two-year ban from European competition.

What say you? [More Man U news and views]

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9 Comments

  1. cole says:

    Lille should face a ban from the competition although with Platini at the helm of UEFA it’s never really going to happen is it

  2. Ollie, Pies Ed. says:

    Do you really think they deserve a ban Cole? How long for?

  3. Matt says:

    Come on. Can’t you at least understand (I’m not saying agree) why they were upset? They have a perfectly good goal ruled out and then United get one on the sly like that.
    I think a large fine and a warning would suffice since they are struggling to stay near the top of the table in France.

  4. Ollie, Pies Ed. says:

    Matt, United’s goal was hardly on the sly – 100% within the rules of the game. Inventive, more like.
    And Vidic was clearly pushed, although he certainly exaggerated his fall.

  5. Matt says:

    Oh, I’m not saying it was illegal, just sneaky. Where he put that ball the wall would have done no good anyways. Very creative, and very much something that would irk the other team.
    As far as Vidic he had hands on his back but I don’t think he was pushed and it wasn’t until after ball was past him anyways. At least from Lille’s point of view.
    I’m not saying what they did was right, I think they should be fined as well. I’m just saying I can understand how they would be upset about how the game went down.

  6. Em says:

    Give them a fine and let them be. French football is schizophrenic right now, really. Anything more (following the incident at the PSG match) would, apart from being excessive, be almost like a nail in the coffin. You need to think of that before anyone goes throwing bans and black spots about.
    Now I support Man Utd. casually, but I do understand where the ire came from. But lookit, has Vidic ever been known to go down without cause, really? I tend to trust him, although I trusted Roy Keane implicitly before the incident.
    As for Giggs goal, I think anyone will admit that it was one of those, possibly against the spirit of the game (unless you’re Aresnal), but not the actual rules.

  7. joe says:

    The fact is, the vidic push looked a little soft, but, hands were on him so its not as if the referee is within his right to give the foul (soft or not, personally I think vidic goes down easy). Giggs goal was perfectly good, period.
    More importantly, if every team who felt a little hard done by walked off the pitch, how many premiership matches would we get through each week?? Arsenal and Bolton probably wouldn’t make it through warm-up.

  8. Ollie, Pies Ed. says:

    My feeling on Vidic = very good defender who can dish it out but can’t take it (ie, he can dive with the best of them too)

  9. daelm says:

    re: the vidic push, you should be ware that the linesman gave it and the ref followed his lead. watch the replay. the linesman flags the push. rightly, too.
    if they hadn’t of scored, there would be no controversy. happens week in and week out.