UEFA Cup / Nik Wardle / 19 May 2009 / Leave a comment

As Darren Fletcher, Dani Alves, Eric Abidal, Diego, Hugo Almeida and Tomas Huebschman all prepare to miss the UEFA and Champions League finals through suspension, Nik Wardle considers whether their offences were serious enough to warrant such a harsh punishment.

UEFA's two annual showpiece games, the UEFA Cup final and the Champions League final, will both be missing key personnel this time around due to suspensions. No one likes to see players miss finals and I believe with some common sense tweaking of the rules, all six suspended players could've been available for Istanbul and Rome.

It's widely agreed that the dismissals of Darren Fletcher and Eric Abidal were incorrect, yet due to UEFA only allowing appeals against suspensions on the grounds of wrongful identification, both will be absent in Rome. It appears backwards for UEFA to not allow appeals against wrongful dismissals when domestic leagues do. UEFA should move with the times and use video evidence to clear up obvious injustices.

Dani Alves will also miss the Champions League final, due to two yellow cards whilst Diego and Hugo Almeida of Werder Bremen and Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Tomas Huebschman will miss the UEFA Cup final for the same reason.

I think UEFA should look at either wiping yellow cards going into the semi-finals or possibly allowing a player a yellow card in each semi and then only players who are justly sent off in a semi-final can miss the final. It's true that this could lead to a spate of players fouling to protect a lead late on in a semi-final second leg but they would still be running the risk of a red card.

All-in-all, I think it's crazy that a player could potentially miss a major final because he got a booking for not retreating ten yards in a group stage game and then getting a second booking for kicking the ball away in the semi-final second leg. In other words, offences that sit under the "mild indiscipline" category rather the "violent or cynica"l actions category.

I think Barcelona's absences will hit them harder, so I'm surprised that they're the slight current favourites in the Champions League match odds market at [2.72] with Man United at [2.76] and [3.6] for the draw.

With Diego (who may well have missed the final anyway due to injury) and Hugo Almeida suspended, Per Mertesacker injured and possibly Naldo missing too, I'd back Shakhtar to win their first European trophy. They're [2.9] on the match odds market with Werder at [2.7] and the draw [3.45] but the safest bet may be to back Shakhtar on the outright market at [2.06] rather than taking your chances by siding with them over 90 minutes. This one could well go extra-time and even penalties.