Desailly may face UEFA probe

Marcel Desailly must wait to discover whether he faces a UEFA investigation into an alleged elbow incident that could rule him out of the second leg of Chelsea’s Champions League semi-final against Monaco.

Monaco striker Fernando Morientes appeared to claim that Desailly elbowed him in the face during the Blues’ 3-1 defeat in the Principality last night.

The alleged incident did not lead to any action from referee Urs Meier, but UEFA could still review video evidence, which appeared to show that the Chelsea captain at least had a case to answer.

Europe’s governing body will also consider official reports from referee Meier, as well as their own match delegate, before making any final decision.

But if an investigation is launched and Desailly is found guilty of an offence of violent conduct, he would almost inevitably be banned from the second leg and, potentially, any appearance in the final too.

The French international defender was forced to miss the second leg of Chelsea’s quarter-final win against Arsenal after being sent off for two bookable offences in the first tie at Stamford Bridge.

Now he could face joining Claude Makelele on the sidelines as his compatriot picked up his third booking of the competition in Monaco to ensure that he will also miss the second leg.

Desailly, meanwhile, refused to discuss the incident which infuriated Morientes, who appealed in vain for any action from the officials.

“Write what you want about that, I only want to talk about football,” insisted the Chelsea skipper afterwards.

Instead, he concentrated on urging his team-mates to take heart from Monaco’s own comeback to beat Real Madrid in the previous round.

“We still have to believe in the possibility of reaching the final. There is still a chance,” he declared.

“After all, Monaco managed to come back against Real Madrid after losing the first leg 4-2.

“There is a final of the Champions League in front of us, it’s not something small. To do that, you need a lot of work. If the possibility is still there, we will try our hardest.”

The 53rd-minute dismissal of Andreas Zikos after a slight tussle with Makelele, who seemingly play-acted as he dived to the ground in supposed pain, should have set Chelsea on course for victory.

However, Monaco instead secured a memorable 10-man victory, which left Desailly bemoaning the way that Chelsea had switched off following the red card.

“We are really disappointed as we were in a good situation when they had 10 men. Then we started to lose completely our control of the game,” he said.

“After the sending-off, we thought mentally that it was finished for them and we could relax and play more easily.

“But they were still able to play as a team and that is the power of their side. We will talk about it in a meeting later on.”