Dominic Fifield hears Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier explain why he's not spitting blood

Where Manchester United once backed the flawed genius of Eric Cantona, Liverpool last night threw their support firmly behind El Hadji Diouf as he braced himself for stinging punishment on three fronts.

His spit during the "spat of Britain" may prompt police charges and a five-match UEFA ban to compound a £60,000 club fine, but Liverpool will stand by their man.

Diouf, the African footballer of the year, travelled back from the team's East Kilbride hotel independently yesterday leaving a sense of simmering resentment in Glasgow.

His offence, turning and spitting towards home fans in the Main Stand as he clambered back on to the pitch after his momentum had carried him over the advertising hoardings, pales into insignificance compared with Cantona's kung-fu kick on a Crystal Palace supporter at Selhurst Park in February 1995.

But, disgusting as it was and in such a high-profile fixture in full view of television cameras, the fallout has been felt keenly from Clydeside to Merseyside.

"He hasn't killed, raped or mugged anyone, but that is no excuse," said Gerard Houllier.

"As a manager, you don't excuse or condone such behaviour, but you can sometimes understand a reaction like that in the heat of the moment. You have to make them see why it's wrong.

"I believe in forgiveness. El Hadji is mentally strong. He's the same kind as Cantona and he's now got to show the same strength of character.

"We don't let the players down here. A club is about care, about love. It's happened at other clubs in different situations and the players have managed to go on and win titles. Two of those clubs are above us at the moment in the table."

Both Cantona and Arsenal's Patrick Vieira, who spat at West Ham's Neil Ruddock after receiving a red card at Upton Park, were publicly backed by their clubs in the wake of unsavoury incidents on the pitch.

Vieira, however, did not face police charges for that incident in 1999, a fate that befell Cantona and could still await Diouf.

The 22-year-old striker was questioned by Strathclyde police on Thursday evening and the case was referred to the procurator fiscal.

It is likely to be a week before he learns whether he is to be formally charged with a breach of the peace.

By then, UEFA, awaiting a copy of the officials' match reports as well as video evidence from the furious 1-1 stalemate, should have decided on its own punishment.

Houllier insisted he expected nothing more than a "heavy fine", though he will surely be disappointed.

Earlier this season, the Celta Vigo midfielder Peter Luccin was banned for four matches for spitting in the face of Celtic's John Hartson in Spain in the second leg of their third-round tie.

The governing body is thought to consider Diouf's offence, directed as it was at a fan rather than a fellow footballer, as more serious and is more likely to impose a five-match suspension which, should Liverpool progress, would rule him out of the UEFA Cup final in Seville.

Liverpool have docked Diouf two weeks' wages - about £60,000 - with that money to be spent by Celtic on a charity of their choice.

"We consider it very important that the long relationship between Liverpool and Celtic should not be soured by what has happened," said the chief executive, Rick Parry.

Houllier will play Diouf, who made a point of apologising to his team-mates at their post-match meal in Scotland, at Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow despite conceding that his £9.5 million signing from Lens was still "very upset" by the incident, sparked when a fan playfully patted him on the head as he clambered back over the hoardings on to the pitch.

"We'll help him," Houllier said. "It's like when you have children: when they do something very bad you punish them, but you try to teach them as well. He is like one of my children here.

"You don't dismiss your child out of hand.El Hadji is a very joyful and playful character."

Earlier this season Leeds fans accused him of spitting at them as he celebrated his compatriot Salif Diao's winner at Elland Road, and visiting West Ham supporters reported a similar incident during their 2-0 defeat at Anfield on November 2nd.

Diouf was warming up as a substitute at the time. No charges were brought in either case.

Few should be surprised at the drip-feed of controversy. As a player with Rennes he was once arrested for driving without a licence, an offence which prompted a club fine and a transfer.

Lens fined him for returning late from the African Nations Cup last year after he stopped off to consult a marabout, a traditional doctor, on the way home.

"By 14, I had got into all the trouble there is," he once said. "Everyone knew me to be a thug and they were all scared of me."

"But it was the same with Cantona when he came to England," added Houllier. "He had had problems in the past in France, but you find that the top players are usually characters. You don't win wars with sheep."

Guardian Service