Wales wait on Giggs decision

Wales are expecting to find out later today whether they will lose star midfielder Ryan Giggs for their biggest match of the last 45 years.

Russia have made official protests to UEFA that the Manchester United player elbowed defender Vadim Evseev during Saturday’s controversial Euro 2004 play-off first-leg draw in Moscow.

The Welsh have since claimed they believe Russian players deliberately targeted Giggs during the goalless draw.

Giggs himself claimed 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 Football Association of Wales are awaiting a decision by UEFA as to whether Giggs has a case to answer and if he will be available as the Welsh look to secure their place in the finals of a major tournament for the first time since the 1958 World Cup.

The Russians say they have sent video evidence to UEFA, but officials at their Swiss headquarters yesterday confirmed no tape had yet reached them and Wales believe the midfielder will be free to take his place in Mark Hughes’ side at the Millennium Stadium tomorrow night.

FAW chief executive David Collins reflected on Sky Sports News: “We are not anticipating this and Ryan will be in our line-up for the return leg on Wednesday evening.

“Certainly the tackle Ryan suffered was an absolute disgrace and he is fortunate not to have been very seriously injured.”

Ceri Stennett, FA of Wales spokesman, added: “We will vigorously defend Ryan if the situation arises. We would certainly not sit back and just accept a ban.

“We have been told by UEFA that they will be investigating Russia’s claims, and 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 very 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 suspension from competitive matches if the winger 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 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 floor.

Giggs said: “I was just using my arm to brush him away. The tackle beforehand was dreadful, one of the worst I have ever received.”

UEFA will have to have video evidence in their possession by this morning for any action to be taken that stops Giggs playing tomorrow.

“We have not yet received the video evidence,” a UEFA spokesman said yesterday. “I think if we did not receive it until Tuesday afternoon it would be too close to the match.

“There is no set limit on how long reviewing the evidence takes, but first we would need to decide if there is a case to answer.”

Hughes has one obvious selection decision to make, whether to recall Mark Pembridge, who missed the Moscow trip with a calf injury, or stick with his West Brom midfield pairing of Jason Koumas and Andy Johnson.

Koumas was the star of the show in the first leg, and said: “That was my best game for Wales.

“I believe there is a lot more left in my armoury, and I cannot wait to get started now.

“We were determined to keep in the game in Moscow, to keep it tight and give us a chance in this second leg. We have done that and now we have to finish the tie off.”

He added: “We had to defend well in Moscow, everybody did their job, but hopefully for the second leg we will be able to attack more and that will suit my game better.”