Drogba – ‘I wish I’d Punched Vidic’

By: Rob | October 21st, 2008

Didier Drogba is being investigated by the FA, after he claimed in his new autobiography that he regrets not punching Nemanja Vidic in the Champions League final in May. The FA are viewing it in the same light as the infamous passage in Roy Keane’s Autobiography about delibrately kicking Alfe-Inge Haaland, which he was forced to change for the paperback edition.

Drogba was sent off in last season’s Champions League final for a girly slap on the Man United defender, and ultimately cost his team, as presumably he could have taken a pen instead of John Terry, who missed the descive penalty in the shootout.

I have seen the match on video and I believe I should not have been sent off with three minutes to go,” Drogba said. “If I had punched him, I would have understood. Now I wish I had.”

See to me, I can see what he’s getting at, although I obviously don’t condone it in the least.

Firstly, he should have been sent off for the slap, he’s wrong about that. It was a petulant and stupid thing to do, and he let the side down. Part of you can’t help think though if he’s going to get sent off in the biggest club game of the season, he ought to have taken a leaf out of Zizou’s book and gone the whole hog really. I mean if he’s going to be sent off anyway.

It doesn’t seem to me that he particuarly wanted to cause any pain to Vidic specifically, unlike Keaneo’s attack on Haaland (for those with short memories, Haaland, while at Leeds, called Keane a faker when he suffered a serious injury. Keane got his own back when Haaland joined Manchester City, by flying kicking him toward the end of the game, being sent off, leaning over Haaland, saying some nasty words of revenge, and ending Haaland’s playing carrer, before describing the pre-emptive element in his autobiography). Its quite an irresponsible thing for Drogba to say (Surprise, Surprise), but it isn’t in the same league as Keane’s.

I’ll be interested to see what the FA do.