Chelsea‘s Serbian defender Branislav Ivanovic’s appeal against a violent conduct charge has been dismissed by the FA. The 28 year old will now miss Chelsea’s semi-final FA cup fixture against Tottenham on Sunday. A statement from the FA read:
“Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic’s appeal against an FA charge for violent conduct has been dismissed.The incident, which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video, occurred during his side’s game against Wigan at Stamford Bridge on Saturday 7 April 2012. A Regulatory Commission heard the claim today and Ivanovic’s three match suspension will commence with immediate effect. “
Despite the disappointing news, Ivanovic believes that Chelsea could still end the season on a high. Currently sitting in 6th place with 57 points and 5 matches left to play, Chelsea are in danger of missing Champions League action next season should they suffer any more negative results.
The Tottenham fixture is the first of 3 very important deciding fixtures. On Tuesday, Chelsea host Barcelona in a Champions League semi-final before travelling North on Saturday to face 3rd place Arsenal at the Emirates.
“In a couple of games after we changed the manager we won, we started to believe we could be in the positions for the Champions League and we started to believe in the FA Cup and the Champions League,” he told the club’s official website.
“We have to win a lot more games but we will try to do everything.”
More than anything else, a lot of attention will be on Chelsea’s fixture against Barca on Tuesday. The Blues have had the trophy elude them on a number of occasions and with a number of their aging stars having their last chance at European glory, their will be no room for any mistakes.
And with injuries to Ashley Cole and John Terry, Chelsea will have to work hard to contain a rampant Barcelona. However, before then, the Blues must fix their attention on the FA Cup semi their only other real claim to silverware this season.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Last season when Rooney committed an equally vicious and malicious foul against a Wigan player, the English FA turned a blind-eye. Ferguson was quoted as saying that since the offence was not noticed and penalized by officials, that Rooney could not be purnished for the offence. Yet Chelsea’s Ivanovic is swiftly purnished and as such the club’s FA cup prospect has been compromised. The English FA is quite unfair!