Its official, Bayern Munich‘s French international star Frank Ribery will miss the Uefa Champions League final after the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) and Uefa rejected his club appeal’s.
Ribery who somehow held onto the hope that both CAS and Uefa would be lenient enough to allow him to feature for the German champions in Saturday’s final, will not only miss out on a championship medal (should they win) but he will also have the undeserving pleasure of watching the match from the stands.
Now Ribery is an important player in Luis Van Gaal’s squad and the Dutch coach must have at least had a back up plan in the event of such a scenario. After thrashing Weder Bremen 4-0 on Saturday to lift the German Cup, the Bavarian club are hoping to make it a treble at the Santiago Bernabeu with or without Ribery.
What is even more baffling, is the fact that CAS did not give reasons for Bayern‘s rejected appeal. This raises more doubt to the whole saga. Ribery has already served the standard one match suspension and according to him, that should be enough. A statement from CAS reads as follows:
‘A hearing was held at the CAS headquarters today (yesterday), during which the parties and their legal representatives were heard. The CAS Panel has dismissed the appeal and confirmed the three-game suspension imposed by the UEFA appeals body on the Bayern Munich player Franck Ribery.
”Accordingly, the player will not be eligible to play in the final of the 2010 Champions League. The reasons for the decision will be published by the CAS in a few days.”
This decision will only give Bayern more impetus to win the match and i can safely say that we will experience a very interesting final this Saturday.
Photo credit: from _VadO_
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