Arsenal forward Danny Welbeck will not face action over alleged dive against AC Milan in Europa League
Welbeck drew lots of criticism for his actions in winning the penalty that he also converted
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Arsenal forward Danny Welbeck will not face any retrospective action for an alleged dive to win a penalty during the Europa League last 16 second leg game against AC Milan this month.
Welbeck went down easily under a challenge from left-back Ricardo Rodriguez to win, and subsequently convert, a penalty to level the game on the night and all but ensure the club’s place in the quarter finals of the competition.
Uefa’s disciplinary committee had been reviewing incidents from Thursday’s Europa League games but have opted against taking any action.
Both Arsene Wenger and his AC Milan counterpart Gennaro Gattuso refused to criticise Welbeck’s actions in the aftermath of the game.
One Italian journalist asked Gattuso whether the incident went against such a national reputation, while Wenger joked about whether the English media wanted to admit that their players dive.
Gattuso said of Welbeck: “He is a striker. He has to do what he does. But we can’t use that as a reference for entire English football. There’s a lot of fair play in England. There was a lot at stake tonight. Even myself, when I was a player, I would try and take advantage of some situations. I’m not going to criticise these things.”
Wenger meanwhile claimed to not have watched the incident back when questioned after the game but insisted he would hive and “honest opinion of it to Welbeck”.
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