ARSENE WENGER has been called “outrageous” and “irresponsible” by the France coach, Raymond Domenech, after William Gallas was ruled out for the remainder of the season and possibly the World Cup.
The Arsenal manager picked Gallas for the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Barcelona on Wednesday night. The defender had not played since February 10th because of a calf problem and had completed only two full training sessions.
Gallas broke down before half-time and had to be taken off, with Wenger conceding: “I took a gamble that didn’t pay off. I can say I regret that now.”
Wenger said yesterday that Gallas would be out for a minimum of five weeks, which means he will not play again this season, unless Arsenal reach the Champions League final on May 22nd. Domenech’s pre-World Cup training camp starts on May 18th. Gallas must prove his fitness by then.
“I’m livid and pissed off,” Domenech said. “It’s outrageous and irresponsible to have played him so early after the injury. It’s scandalous. He’d better be fit for the World Cup.”
“We have to first take care of the interests of Arsenal,” Wenger said. “The French team is important but so is Arsenal and William is paid by the club, not by the French team. We have to use the players when they declare themselves fit.
“I believe he declared himself fit and I have the reports from the rehabilitation centre where he worked for 10 days and he had four days training with the team. Maybe we should have taken some more time but he was jumping, running up and down the stairs in France, and he had very hard sessions. I don’t think this will cost him his World Cup.”
Wenger defended his decision to to play Cesc Fabregas on Wednesday. The Arsenal captain had bruising to a bone in his lower leg and ended the match with a crack to the bone in question. Wenger said he had double-checked with his medical department yesterday morning that Fabregas had not been risked recklessly, and had concluded that it was a coincidence the midfielder took a blow to an area which was already inflamed, from a challenge by Birmingham City’s Craig Gardner last Saturday.
“I am 100 per cent confident that, medically, everything was done properly and I checked that with our medical team,” said Wenger, who believes Fabregas to be “100 per cent” to go to the World Cup with Spain.
“There was no medical reason to stop him playing. It is still a surprise to me that he got injured where he got the kick [at Birmingham]. You wonder how that can happen. I just wanted to understand. ”
