Israel Saria
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and winger Samir Nasri have been charged by Uefa over comments made to the referee after their defeat by Barcelona.
The duo were charged with improper conduct for “inappropriate language”.
Wenger was involved in a furious exchange with Massimo Busacca after Tuesday’s 3-1 loss, which eliminated the Gunners from the Champions League.
The Frenchman was incensed by the decision to show Robin van Persie a second yellow card in the second half.
With the score at 1-1 and Arsenal leading 3-2 on aggregate, Van Persie was given his marching orders in the 56th minute for shooting at goal one second after Busacca had blown the whistle for offside.
Nasri was among a group of Arsenal players who remonstrated with the referee, with Van Persie later claiming he had not heard the whistle because of the noise from the 95,000 crowd.
Wenger confronted Busacca at the final whistle and their angry exchanges continued in the tunnel.
“If you play football at a certain level you cannot understand this decision,” Wenger said. “It killed a promising, fantastic match. If it’s a bad tackle, OK, but frankly it is embarrassing.”
Uefa studied reports from Busacca before charging Wenger and Nasri. The disciplinary case will be heard on 17 March.
After Van Persie’s dismissal, Barca laid siege to the Arsenal goal, taking the lead through Xavi in the 69th minute before a Lionel Messi penalty two minutes later sealed their place in the quarter-finals.
Following their elimination from Europe, Arsenal’s attention now turns to their FA Cup quarter-final away to Manchester United on Saturday.
The Gunners are three points behind leaders United in the Premier League title race with a game in hand.
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