Witsel says Qin’s 6-month ban harsh, admits provoking him
Print Edition
TIANJIN Quanjian’s Axel Witsel has said that the Chinese Football Association’s punishment on Qin Sheng was “too harsh.”
The Belgian international has also admitted that he was asked to needle the temperamental Shanghai Greenland Shenhua player during their Chinese Super League match to provoke a reaction.
Shenhua midfielder Qin was shown a straight red for deliberately stamping on Witsel’s foot during their CSL match on March 11. CFA slapped a six-month ban and a 120,000-yuan (US$17,430) fine on Qin last week. The club was criticized for “affecting the image of Chinese football.”
Witsel, who is with the Belgium national team this week, told the Belgium paper DH.be that he thought the punishment was too heavy for a foul like that.
“I’m not very familiar with the player. But I heard he had committed bad fouls before, which might have led to this punishment. But I still think it is too harsh for a foul like that.
“(Head coach Fabio) Cannavaro told me that this player gets irritated easily, though he is one of the best defending midfielder in CSL. He (Cannavoro) told me to try get him (Qin) annoyed during the match,” said Witsel. “When Shenhua was taking a corner kick, I pushed Qin, and he stamped on me. I went down and waited for the referee’s card.”
It was one of the heaviest punishments against a player by the CFA, and came 10 days after Greenland Shenhua also imposed its own punishment on the 30-year-old — a 300,000 yuan fine and banished to the reserve team. Qin will not be granted a transfer to other clubs for the next four years and will be paid basic wages — 2,190 yuan per month.
CFA regulations state that a player who acts violently against an opponent during a match will be banned for at least three matches and fined 15,000 yuan. Fouls leading to injuries will incur a five-match ban and 25,000 yuan fine.
CSL has attracted global attention this year due to the arrival of big-name players. The incident was reported by a number of international media that seems to have upset CFA.
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