Wenger faces Uefa conduct charge

Soccer: Arsene Wenger has been charged with improper conduct by Uefa after confronting referee Damir Skomina following Arsenal's 3-0 win over AC Milan last night. The Gunners manager confronted the Slovenian official on the pitch after the final whistle and criticised him in his post-match comments.

A Uefa spokesman said: "A disciplinary case has been opened for improper conduct."

If the case is proved and Wenger is given a touchline ban, it will be the third time within the space of a year he has been given such a sanction by Uefa.

Uefa's control and disciplinary panel are likely to hear the case on March 29th - and would take into account Wenger's recent past record.

Wenger claimed the referee awarded too many free-kicks to the Italians, who progressed to the quarter-final stage with a 4-3 aggregate win.

He made his thoughts clear on Skomina's performance in his post-match press conference, saying: "I was not happy with the referee tonight because I felt he gave many free-kicks in the middle of the park.

"Every time they went down a free-kick was given for them, and they sensed that very quickly and they used it very well."

Uefa handed Wenger a one-match touchline ban for an on-field rant at Massimo Busacca following his team's last 16 exit to Barcelona last year. The Arsenal boss was fuming at the Swiss referee's decision to send off Robin van Persie.

Wenger was then handed a further two-match touchline suspension in August for violating his Barcelona ban by communicating with the Arsenal bench from the stands during the Gunners' play-off tie against Udinese earlier this season.

Wenger felt his team restored their pride last night. Trailing 4-0 from the first leg three weeks ago, it was always going to take something special to turn the tie around and progress to the quarter-finals. However, for an hour or so it appeared the record books would be torn up as the Gunners reduced the deficit with first-half goals from Laurent Koscielny, the impressive Tomas Rosicky and Robin van Persie’s penalty.

However, the second-half onslaught never came as Milan — who had somehow managed to go out to Deportivo La Coruna in the 2003/04 quarter-finals having won 4-1 at home, losing the second leg in Spain 4-0 — regrouped and were not really troubled during the closing stages.

Arsenal had recorded morale-boosting victories over Tottenham and Liverpool in the build-up to last night’s European tie, with another rousing performance just what Wenger had wanted, if missing the final fairytale ending.

He said: “We restored a good performance tonight and we are disappointed because we touched qualification. We had the chances and we didn’t do it, but we were very close. I felt that we suffered a bit in the second half physically because we gave a lot at Liverpool.

“When we tired in midfield we had no options on the bench and the regret I have is there. The players put in a faultless performance, with fantastic spirit and you can only congratulate the whole team. If you win 3-0 at home, you can only say well done to the players.

“You know that if you play 180 minutes and you miss 90, it is difficult at that level. We were very close.”