Welsh to fight any ban on Giggs
A cloud currently hangs over the Manchester United star following Russian official protests to UEFA that he elbowed defender Vadim Evseev during Saturday’s controversial first leg draw in Moscow.
The Welsh have since claimed they believe Russian players deliberately targeted Giggs during the 0-0 draw, and the player said a horror assault by Evseev seconds before the alleged elbowing incident was “the worst tackle I have had to contend with at any time during my career”.
Now the FA of Wales are awaiting a decision by UEFA as to whether Giggs has a case to answer.
The Russians say they have sent video evidence to UEFA, but officials at their Swiss headquarters have confirmed that no tape as yet reached them.
Ceri Stennett, FA of Wales spokesman said: “We will vigorously defend Ryan if the situation arises. We won’t sit back and just accept a ban. We are very disappointed that the Russians have taken this action because there were many things at the match we were not happy with.
"Paul Jones and Danny Gabbidon were the targets of bottles and flares thrown onto the pitch, and we would certainly mention the terrible tackle on Ryan and the fact the Russian player involved threw himself to the ground feigning injury.
“We have been told by UEFA that they will be investigating Russia’s claims, and if in the unlikely event of him being banned from the second leg, we would appeal immediately.”
An appeal would make the timescale for a ban from the Millennium Stadium crunch difficult.
But if Giggs escaped a ban from the second leg and UEFA took action later, Wales could be looking at a potential three-match ban from competitive matches if Giggs was found guilty, and if they qualify for Portugal it could put him out of the first three group matches.
However, the FAW do not believe that the situation will come to that, and they are confident UEFA will dismiss Russia’s claims.
TV evidence does show Giggs using his elbow, but there was no connection with Evseev’s face and the player then theatrically threw himself to the ground.
UEFA have yet to receive the tape and would need to have it in their possession by this morning for any action to be taken that stops Giggs playing on Wednesday.
Wales were furious with Russia’s approach to the game and Mark Hughes’ side were also angered by Russia’s refusal to give the ball back to them after play was stopped by a flare thrown onto the pitch.
What this row ensures is that the atmosphere between the Wales and Russian FAs will have hit rock bottom by the time tomorrow’s match takes place.
UEFA have appointed Spanish referee Manuel Gonzalez for the match, and he will need a strong hand to control a game on which so much rests.
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