Uefa overturns its ban on Arsenal striker Eduardo

Finally some good news for Arsene Wenger, after the European football body Uefa surprisingly overturned its two-match ban on Arsenal's Croatian striker Eduardo in time for him to line up for the Gunners in tomorrow night's Champions League Group H game against Standard Liege.

"Following examination of all the evidence, notably the declarations of both the referee and the referees' assessor, as well as the various video footage," a Uefa spokesman said last night, "it was not established to the panel's satisfaction that the referee had been deceived in taking his decision on the penalty."

Eduardo had been punished for an incident during the Champions League play-off second leg against Celtic at the Emirates, when he went to ground too easily after a challenge in the penalty box by the Scottish club's goalkeeper Artur Boruc. The striker scored the resulting spot kick, and because the score had been 0-0 at the time, Celtic claimed the decision had swung the tie Arsenal's way.

Uefa originally agreed with the Scots, who received strong support from their football association, and banned the Croatian for Arsenal's first two group games in the Champions League, on the basis of TV evidence of the incident. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was understandably angered, and spearheaded the club's appeal against the sanction, despite admitting that Eduardo had "made more" of the contact than was necessary.

The north Londoners put in a solid defence of their man, claiming that Boruc had indeed made contact with Eduardo, something that no TV replays proved conclusively, but which spread enough doubt to make Uefa's hardline stance on the incident seem a little driven by dogma. It was also pointed out by many commentators that such attempts to con the referees happened across Uefa's jurisdiction every weekend, and if they were going to use TV evidence in one case they would have to use it in all.

"We are grateful that the appeals body focused on the evidence and made the right decision," a spokesman for Arsenal said yesterday. "We were able to show that there was contact between the goalkeeper and Eduardo and that the decision of the Uefa disciplinary body should be annulled. We are glad to put this incident behind us and concentrate on the games ahead."

The player himself was also happy. "I certainly feel relieved now," Eduardo said. "Now I just want to forget about this and think about our match against Standard Liege. Now we have a final result, I can now look forward to helping the team on Wednesday night. I know perhaps more than anyone else that when you have contact at speed it can be dangerous" - a reference to a tackle that broke his leg in a Premier League game. "I just want to say that I'm a fair player. I'm very pleased that we have finally arrived at the truth. This decision makes me feel a lot better."

Meanwhile, Celtic's assistant manager Mark Venus refused to prolong the controversy, saying today: "Uefa have made the decision in the best interests of what they think is right; they changed their mind on whatever evidence they have so you have got to go with that." ·