Gareth Bale intends to appeal the yellow card he received for a high challenge on John O’Shea in the second half of Ireland’s World Cup qualifier against Wales, according to Chris Coleman.
The Wales manager argued that the behaviour of his players had been no worse than that of the hosts in what he described as “a good old British game”.
Coleman said that he had seen neither the challenge by Bale nor the one by Neil Taylor that resulted in Séamus Coleman’s leg being broken but he conceded that the latter had been a bad tackle and insisted that the Aston Villa defender had gone to the Irish dressing room afterwards in the hope of apologising in person to the Everton player.
“I’m told that Séamus has an injury and it could be a serious one which is a great shame. I haven’t seen the incident again but he (Taylor) really isn’t that sort of player so if he has got it wrong then we’re sorry for that. We’re sorry for Séamus, he’s a great player and we have a lot of respect for him; he’s a great player and a great leader. I hope he has a speedy recovery.”
But Coleman insisted that both teams had been equally responsible for the “needle” that was increasingly evident as the game went on, insisting that “there weren’t too many of your players coming off the pitch there with halos over their heads”.
Bale challenge
Pressed repeatedly on Bale’s challenge moments before the one by Taylor, he said, “I thought the ball was there, it was a cross and he had to go for it. If it was a bad challenge, there’s no sense of that in my dressing room; he wants to appeal the card that he got.”
In terms of the Irish contribution to the incidents, about the only thing that stood out was a Glenn Whelan challenge on Joe Allen on the stroke of half-time which the Welshman clearly was not happy with.
The Dubliner arrived late and appeared to elbow his opponent in the face and was certainly fortunate not to be booked.
Boot in face
Aaron Ramsey subsequently kicked Whelan in the face after the break as he raised his boot high to make contact with the ball and was booked for that and after the challenges by Bale and Taylor, which both came in the space of 90 seconds or so, the Real Madrid star should have been given a second yellow for a kick on James McClean.
“It was a typical British derby, there was needle throughout the game,” said Coleman who became somewhat irritated as he was repeatedly quizzed about the incidents.
“You’re not trying to tell me that every bad challenge out there tonight was by one of my lads, are you? I’m not saying anyone should have been sent off but there was a bit of needle on both sides.”
Asked about the result he said that his side had not been under any real pressure until the sending off, but added: “it might have been a lot worse for us in the last 20 minutes so it’s a good point for us.”
Bale passed on his best wishes to Coleman.
“We all wish him a speedy recovery,” said the Real Madrid winger.
