Senior figures at Uefa pushed for a criminal investigation to be opened against Chelsea and Jose Mourinho in relation to the death threats made to referee Anders Frisk, it emerged last night.
Lawyers for the European governing body argued internally that a "clear link" could be established between Mourinho's comments, claiming that Frisk had "helped" Barcelona in their Champions League tie at the Camp Nou and subsequent threats the Swedish former official received from individuals claiming to be Chelsea fans. The move was overruled by the Uefa executive.
"Some in the investigation in the legal department thought that clearly a link could be established (between Mourinho's comments and the threats)," said a Uefa source. "This is the danger of the issue with the threats, because then it would be out of the disciplinary matters and become a criminal case. No one has a desire for that. It would be endless and at this stage we didn't want that."
The urge of certain individuals to pursue criminal action demonstrates the strength of feeling within Uefa's control-and-disciplinary body about Chelsea's recent conduct.
A hearing will be held next Thursday for Chelsea to respond to the indictment registered by Uefa's control-and-disciplinary body, in which they were accused of having "poisoned the ambience" of football with alleged inconsistencies in their report to Uefa over events at the Camp Nou.
Chelsea suffered another distraction yesterday when Adrian Mutu appeared in front of a Premier League hearing as part of the club's attempts to gain £8 million compensation against the disgraced Romanian striker. Mutu was sacked earlier this season by Chelsea after admitting taking illegal substances and Juventus quickly signed him for free.
Meanwhile, Liverpool's prospects of edging beyond Juventus into a potential Champions League semi-final have suffered a blow after Dietmar Hamann was ruled out for a month with knee ligament damage sustained during last weekend's 2-1 victory over Everton at Anfield.
The injury will rule him out of both matches against Juventus, along with the Premiership game with Bolton next month, and could yet hamper his chances of earning a new contract at the club. His deal expires in July with negotiations stalled.
David Beckham could find that getting away from the Spanish paparazzi could prove harder than he anticipates, with his two favoured English clubs, Arsenal and Chelsea, unwilling to provide him with a Premiership escape route. The England captain said this week that his life at Real Madrid was becoming unbearable because of intrusions by the Spanish media into this family's private life.
His main hope of escape could be if Jose Antonio Reyes were allowed to leave Highbury for Real, providing for an exchange deal, although Arsenal are more likely to want Michael Owen in such a deal.
The desire of Reyes to leave Arsenal for Madrid has been an open secret for weeks and yesterday he all but burnt his bridges. "I hope now they (Real Madrid) are making an effort to get me," he said.
"It is obvious that I am not happy and that I have not adapted. I have told Arsenal that I am unhappy and that I have not adapted to the language or the climate and I think that is vital for me. I have spoken to the Arsenal chairman and the coach and I have told them everything."
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