Chelsea striker Costa was charged with violent conduct by the FA following his side's win over Arsenal on Saturday. However, it's little consequence to Arsenal, who finished the game with nine men and lost 2-0. Such was the fury felt by Arsenal fans, an online petition began encouraging supporters of the London club to not purchase Costa Coffee, which is owned by British multinational company Whitbread. It was uncertain whether the proposed ban was light-hearted or serious but, either way, the company seems to have taken it well.
The ban was an unexpected outcome from the controversial match. At the centre of the debate was whether referee Mike Dean got it wrong by sending off Arsenal's Brazilian defender Gabriel Paulista after a clash with Costa, who seemed to be the provocateur of tensions in the first half.
Costa appeared to twice lash out with his hands in challenges with Laurent Koscielny and then chest-bumped Koscielny to the ground. In the wake of that incident Gabriel confronted Costa, which led to both players being cautioned. A minute later, the Arsenal centre-back was sent off for kicking out at the Spanish international.
Arsenal said they would appeal the decision to march Gabriel and his three week ban.
"Costa twice should be sent off," Gunners coach Arsene Wenger told the BBC after the fiery match. "He hits him [Koscielny] in the face on purpose. In every game he has aggravation and he gets away with it because of the weakness of the referee."
The FA released a statement saying Arsenal defender Gabriel has been charged with improper conduct for his behaviour following his dismissal and Costa would be charged for "an alleged act of violent conduct which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video" involving Koscielny.
"Off the ball incidents which are not seen at the time by the match officials are referred to a panel of three former elite referees," the FA explained.
"Each referee panel member will review the video footage independently of one another to determine whether they consider it a sending-off offence. For retrospective action to be taken, and an FA charge to follow, the decision by the panel must be unanimous."
No comments:
Post a Comment