UEFA punishment would be `curious' - Hiddink

11 May 2009 08:05
Guus Hiddink believes it would be "curious" if UEFA were to heavily punish Chelsea or striker Didier Drogba in the fall-out from the Champions League exit to Barcelona at Stamford Bridge. UEFA have yet to rule on the unacceptable over-reaction from several of the Blues players - most notably a foul-mouthed tirade into a live TV camera by Drogba - following their controversial midweek exit in the Champions League to a late Barcelona away goal. However, following Sunday afternoon's 4-1 thrashing of Arsenal at Emirates Stadium which secured third place in the table, the Dutch coach, in charge until the end of the season, praised his team's reaction and called on the disciplinary chiefs at Europe's governing body to show compassion. Hiddink had no qualms about selecting Drogba. He said: "We do not live with headlines, whether they are right or not, that is not the big issues. Drogba has always fought for the team. "Everyone has talked about the incident afterwards, but in the game there were no incidents, everyone respected each other. He [Drogba] saw what he did wrong and apologised strongly. "We do not know what is going to happen regarding that, but when the people in charge at UEFA they have the feeling of being football people and not bureaucratic authorities, then they might perfectly understand that the big apology of his was okay. So I do not expect much from that, it would be curious I think."

Source: Eurosport