Armenia protest to UEFA over red card in Euro 2012 qualifier

Armenia’s Football Association filed an official protest to UEFA over the refereeing in their Euro 2012 qualifying defeat to Ireland.

Armenia needed to win their final Group B qualifier to finish second and make the play-offs, but lost 2-1 on Tuesday after their goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky was sent off by the Spanish referee Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez after 26 minutes. Berezovsky was dismissed for handball outside his penalty area, but replays clearly showed he chested the ball clear. Replays also showed the referee allowed play to continue after it appeared the Ireland striker Simon Cox did handle the ball moments before Berezovsky was wrongly adjudged to have done so. Iturralde Gonzalez later sent off Ireland's Kevin Doyle after the striker received two yellow cards.

The FA head, Ruben Airapetyan, told reporters that the Armenians want UEFA to cancel Berezovsky's red card rather than punish the referee. Airapetyan dismissed the conspiracy theories of some Armenian fans who suggested UEFA was trying to give Ireland an advantage to balance out the infamous handball by France striker Thierry Henry that cost them the chance of reaching the 2010 World Cup finals. "Trust me, I would never think or believe that it would be possible for UEFA to give such instructions to the referee," Airapetyan said.

Source: The Guardian