Tones

Hes had his ban reduced to one game. Oh well, at least they will be out by then. Skysports: Uefa have reduced Asier Del Horno's suspension to just one game following his red card in the UEFA Champions League clash with Barcelona. The Spanish left-back was handed his marching orders, and a three match ban, as he missed the ball and clattered into Barca's Argentine winger Lionel Messi in the 36th minute at Stamford Bridge - the latest incident in an increasingly fierce rivalry between the two European giants. The decision enraged Blues boss Jose Mourinho, and led to accusations of play-acting against Messi as the fall-out continued after the 2-1 victory for the Catalan outfit. However Del Horno has now been handed a reprieve by Uefa and will only miss the second leg at Camp Nou - meaning he will be free for the quarter finals should Chelsea upset the odds and mount an unlikely comeback. Referee Terje Hauge had decided that the challenge constituted violent conduct, but Uefa have now cut the punishment dealt out to Del Horno after taking Chelsea's view of the incident into consideration. "Following the sending-off of Asier Del Horno against Barcelona, Chelsea FC were asked for our observations on the incident as part of the standard UEFA disciplinary procedure," read a statement on the club's official website. "In that submission we made a case that the offence of violent conduct was unjustified and that an automatic three match ban as a result would similarly be unjust. "There was no appeal against the dismissal itself as the UEFA disciplinary procedures only allow for a retrospective decision on the basis of mistaken identity, or if there was no contact between the two players. "After our submission, UEFA analysed video footage of the incident and made the decision that the offence did not constitute violent conduct. It was decided that a three match ban was not applicable. "Although Chelsea is still disappointed to lose Asier for the next match in Barcelona, we are pleased that UEFA considered and accepted our submission positively."

Thats me, you , the rest of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It would be unbearable. You couldnt watch Sky or read another paper for years. Could just imagine the t***s on Jimmy Hills show would be saying. Doesnt bare thinking about.

b******s

Not sure why but i have only recently noticed it. Maybe i put it down to the injury, settling in etc but its not. He honestly is a poor footballer. Its not down to Rafas system. I just havent seen much football from him. Hes not going to learn to play football at this late age either so he doesnt deserve a run in the side. Its just not going to happen.

175 games for a goal??

Me too. To me the whole team is better balanced, and play a lot better with Morientes in instead of Cisse. I think Cisse has had his chance and offered little to the team, and dont get me started on his performance v Man U! My starters would be Crouch and Fowler, though obviously we couldnt today. I agree with Rafas choice of starting Nando, but not with his decision to keep him on and take Crouch off.

kewelll!!!!

Oh dear God. This man is clueless. And Fergie doesnt think Rio can play there. He just has no choice!

Nonsense. Cisse has a very poor touch, poor control. In fact all i can see from him is pace. I think he has a poor footballing brain, some of his decisions are awful. Hes even a very very poor header of the ball. I hate saying bad things about Liverpool players, but i honestly believe cisse is a very poor footballer. I was no fan of Baros, but i would rather we have kept him. Hemay run with his head down but you knew he was going to make the runs for you. You dont with Cisse.

Time and time again, we have heard Rafa say he will only sign the right player at the right price. Some times he has to say no. He will not be ripped off by anybody. Yet Parry still seems to get the blame when the transfers collapse, when Rafa is saying, from what i can tell, that he has stopped the transfers.

Yes

Been waiting 3 or 4 weeks on stuff being delivered here in Belfast. They have been back to work ove a week now and i still havent received any post. Id say they have no chance of getting their tickets.

Excellent news from Rafa. Lets hope its a quick and full recovery

Ft Bolton out hah ha ha ha ha

Nice to hear some good news. Hope and pray that he makes a 100% recovery.

He does, but dont get me started on him. Just thinking back to the games at OT, start of the game at Stamford Bridge, first half at Charlton, At Benfica etc. We dominated the games. Yet ended up loosing. Arsenal was different and we did create good chances there. But quite a few of our games recently we have not created enough clear chances. Im not sure what to put that down to. Stevie not in the middle perhaps. Still with him on the right and HK on the left we should be creating more.

Been saying this for the last month or so. We never seem to be one on one with oppo keepers. We create very little chances for the amount of possession we have. Strikers seem to get a lot of the blame but they really can only finish whats set up for them.

:yes:

ETOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

off the f***ing line again

jammy f*****s. Barca should be stuffing them now. Larson should have scored, messi hit the bar. been unlu7cky on a few other occasions

HA is that another OG 1 1

Yeah Barca are really getting all the decisions. sky t***s

f*****s 1 0 up. Terry

Come on Barca. Gets these f*****s out so i dont have to listen to this kind of crap in europe again