UEFA president Michel Platini hit out at Arsenal boss Arsene
Wenger on Wednesday for remarks the Gunners coach made blaming
Thierry Henry's injury-plagued season on poor management by the
France national team.
Wenger blasted the France management for not giving Henry the
adequate rest after their team went all the way to the World Cup
finals last summer.
However, Wenger's main grievance stems from the international
friendly between France and Bosnia, in which Henry played 90
minutes, on August 16 - three days before the start of the
Premiership season.
"I don't understand how Thierry Henry was injured in March due
to a match he played in Bosnia in August," explained Platini.
"I am not a physiotherapist, but I can't understand how he can
be injured because of a match six months ago."
Henry has sustained a number of injuries throughout the domestic
season, and has now been ruled out for the rest of Arsenal's
campaign with groin and stomach trouble suffered against PSV
Eindhoven in the Champions League.
The French tactician risked fielding the 29-year-old striker
against the Dutch giants last week and later said: "I don't take
responsibility for that (his injury) because I feel Thierry has
been badly managed by the French national team."
Fences to be scrapped
UEFA president Michel Platini also said that European Union
governments should get rid of fences in all stadiums across the
27-member bloc as part of new EU standards for sports.
Platini's call comes a day after EU sports ministers proposed
strengthening security measures at sports events in the EU,
including new EU-wide standards for stadiums and security
personnel.
"I'm totally against fences, but these issues are dealt with by
the governments and local authorities. I would like to see them
removed," Platini told a briefing in London.
Manchester United fans were caught in a crush at a recent
Champions League match between their team and French club Lille in
the city of Lens, sparking criticism from Sepp Blatter, president
of FIFA.
Blatter blamed the fences at Lens's Felix-Bollaert Stadium for
the heightened danger while Platini recalled that as co-president
of France's 1998 World Cup organising committee he tried to
persuade Lens to remove them.
"When you cage people in they react like animals and I don't
mean that in a nasty way, but the instinct is to fight your way
out," Platini said.
(China Daily via AFP/Agencies March 15, 2007)