Poll predicts long bans for Blues pair
Drogba confronted referee Tom Henning Ovrebo after the clash against Barcelona at Stamford Bridge, while Ballack was furious with the official for not awarding a penalty.
UEFA are still gathering evidence ahead of any action being taken against the club or their players.
“I think there will probably be fairly hefty match bans, maybe eight to 10 for Drogba and five or six for Ballack,” Poll said.
“They will probably get halved on appeal – that’s kind of the way UEFA do things ... they always know there’s an appeal coming so they go heavy and then reduce it down.
“I think they’ll probably look for Drogba to have six matches because then he misses all the group stage games. That seems a good punishment for him but whether he’ll be at Chelsea for those games is another matter.”
While there has been speculation over Drogba’s future, Nicolas Anelka’s advisor has been quoted insisting the France striker will stay at Chelsea.
Meanwhile, Andriy Shevchenko, who has been out on loan at AC Milan, wants to stay in Italy.
Shevchenko said. “I don’t consider myself to be an ex-Milan player yet. I am feeling good physically and I want to finish my career here.”
Meanwhile, local rivals Wigan and Bolton have both signed shirt sponsorship deals with online gaming company 188BET for the next two years. It makes the betting specialist the first brand in Barclays Premier League history to sign shirt deals with two top-flight clubs to run at the same time.
The in-play football betting specialist will become principal sponsor of both clubs from the start of the 2009-10 season, and the brand logo will appear on all adult club shirts for the next two seasons.
These agreements mark 188BET’s first significant step into the English football market.
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