UEFA President Michel Platini "has called on the game’s lawmakers to change the 'stupid rule' that a player has to be sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity even though a penalty has been awarded for the offence," according to Peter Wilson of the SUNDAY TIMES. Platini's move "comes days after the Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and the Manchester City defender Martin Demichelis were shown red cards after giving away penalties in their sides’ Champions League ties against Bayern Munich and Barcelona, respectively." FIFA’s Law 12 "triple punishment" of a penalty, a sending-off and a subsequent suspension, "has been one of Platini’s pet hates." He said, "For 15 years we have been trying to change this rule. All the technical committees of UEFA and FIFA are against it but when it has gone to the International Board it doesn’t change" (SUNDAY TIMES, 2/23). REUTERS' Mike Collett-White reported UEFA's exec committee "has proposed the issue is included on the agenda at next week's meeting of the International Football Association Board, the game's ultimate law-making body." FIFA President Sepp Blatter "will chair next week's IFAB meeting in Switzerland and he has a different view from Platini, maintaining the sanction is a fit and proper punishment." The IFAB, comprising four voting members from FIFA and four from the British associations, needs a 75% "majority for a law to be changed" (REUTERS, 2/22).
