Makeshift Barcelona centre-back Eric Abidal has admitted to bringing down Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka in an incident that produced a red card in Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final.
Abidal was being used in central defence in the absence of Carlos Puyol and said that although Anelka seemed to go down easily in the second-half challenge, he admitted to bringing down his compatriot.
“I was defending against Nico [Anelka], but as I was the last defender and the referee thought I fouled him, dismissing me is normal,” Abidal said.
我當時正負責防守安歷卡,但我已經是最後一個防守球員了。球證將我罰下是正常的。
“If I let Nico run towards goal then he scores the second one and it is over, so we can say it is a good foul. I sacrificed myself. It is always disappointing to reach the final without being able to feature.”
如果我放他進去造成第二個進球的話,我們就完蛋了,所以那個犯規還是值得的。我自我犧牲,但是對於不能參加決賽,總是讓人感到遺憾的。