Wenger slams ´useless´ referees

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger labelled the refereeing in his side’s 2-0 Champions League defeat to Sporting Braga on Tuesday as ‘useless’.

Wenger was furious after the Gunners were denied a clear penalty when Carlos Vela was felled in the box by Braga defender Alberto Rodriguez in the second half, only for the forward to be handed a yellow card for diving.

Braga then scored the opening goal while Emmanuel Eboue was out of play and being treated for injury, before the Portuguese club sealed the win deep into injury time.

Wenger was stunned his side had not been awarded a penalty and derided UEFA’s decision to use two extra officials in European matches.

“It is difficult to understand how we did not get a penalty,” Wenger said. “The five referees is not an answer to the problem.”

“The turning point was the penalty – I still cannot understand how Carlos Vela got a yellow card. It remains a complete mystery.”

“We are going through a period where we have bad luck, we had Eboue kicked off the park without any punishment and we also had the penalty turned down.”

“What was the fifth official doing? We have another proof that it is absolutely useless, this system.”

Wenger was also critical of Braga’s style of play, bemoaning the Portuguese side’s defensive tactics.

“We played against a team who refused to play and tried to catch us on the counter attack. They used every single trick in the book to slow the game down,” Wenger lamented.

“I think we had enough on the pitch to make a goal, but football is like that when the other team focuses not to play.”

Captain Cesc Fabregas and Eboue were both injured during the match and are now in doubt for Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa in the Premier League.

“Eboue will be out for a while and we will have to asses Fabregas tomorrow. It could be two to three weeks,” Wenger said.

Braga coach Domingos Paciencia said Vela should not have had a penalty as Samir Nasri was offside in the lead up to the incident.

“I don’t want to comment, because it is just the personal opinion of the Arsenal manager,” Pacienca said.

“I have seen it on TV, but before there was an offside, so first should be offside, then no penalty would be allowed for Arsenal.”