Arsene Wenger And Samir Nasri To Serve UEFA Bans Without Appealing

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and midfielder Samir Nasri will not appeal their one-match suspensions handed down by UEFA and will miss the club’s next European fixture. Wenger and Nasri were both suspended for what UEFA termed “inappropriate language” towards referee Massimo Busacca during the club’s Champions League round of 16 second-leg against Barcelona that saw the English club knocked out of the competition.

Both Wenger and Nasri were incensed when Robin van Persie was shown a second yellow card in the second leg of the tie against Barcelona. Arsenal were leading on aggregate at the time when van Persie struck a ball towards goal after the referee’s whistle. Van Persie indicated that he could not hear the whistle because of all the noise at the 99,354 seat Camp Nou in Barcelona, but the referee sent him off anyways. Wenger and Nasri both had words with the referee, words UEFA deemed to be inappropriate.