Football experts have been debating for quite while about the penalty a player should receive for cheating the referee but no general consensus has been made. The latest incident involving Arsenal player Eduardo has set the pulses rising, especially after UEFA officials announced the player could get a two-match ban for cheating the referee for the penalty in the Champions League match against Celtic. Arsene Wenger has reacted and tried to defend his player, but I am quite sure he wouldn’t raise an eyebrow if a player from another team was in question.

According to the rules, the players that try to cheat the referee are awarded a yellow card, but they escape sanctions if the ref buys their trick. Because of the lenient punishment, the players all over the world are falling all over the penalty box and that is ruining the beautiful game. They often try to fall down even though they have a sight on goal as yellow card is a small punishment, while on the other hand they can win a penalty for their team. I am very surprised that UEFA and FIFA have done nothing about this issue in the past as this can quickly be eradicated if the attempted cheat results in red card, or the subsequent suspension after seeing the video footage.

I, therefore, believe Eduardo should be suspended, especially after he tricked the ref into believing it was a penalty, but only if all next attempts to do the same receive the same punishment. UEFA can make a real statement by punishing Eduardo but the European governing body will be ridiculed if another player who attempts to cheat the ref does not get the same penalty. English media have been all over the Arsenal player for this ‘embarrassing’ incident and this is a bit hypocritical coming from the same media that did nothing when their darlings Gerrard and Lampard have done the same.

UEFA have finally decided to take action against divers and cheaters, and they’ve got my full backing on this but they have to be strict on this matter and cannot afford to cut any slack as that would backfire on them. Together with FIFA they need to make this strict policy become part of the rules in all the leagues in the world and only then will it have full effect

written by Nemanja

Yes Yes Yes Please