Arsenal boss Wenger brands UEFA a dictatorship

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger branded European football governing boday UEFA a dictatorship after being charged with improper conduct following his side's Champions League elimination at the hands of Barcelona.

The 3-1 defeat to Barcelona saw Arsenal striker Van Persie get a soft red card and both Wenger and midfielder Samir Nasri were charged for inappropriate language used at the Swiss referee Massimo Busacca.

After the game, Van Persie had the referee a joke. On being invited to comment on the charge, Wenger said, I deny completely any charge. I do not understand where that comes from. It is a shame for me that the referee took the decision to send Robin van Persie off. It was the wrong decision.

The first leg was a fantastic advert for football and the second game has been destroyed. People now will only remember the sending off. It would be good for UEFA to show some humility, to apologise for what has happened, not charge people who have done nothing wrong.

Who has been punished is Arsenal Football Club. We are out of the Champions League - we have lost one of our big ambitions. We have been punished with a lot of damages and, on top of that, we have to say sorry to UEFA.

We have done nothing wrong. They organised the competition, they named the referees who come to the games. When you have a football game of that stature, you cannot come out with decisions like that and show a lot of arrogance on top of that. We can all understand that we can make wrong decisions, but after that it becomes dictatorship. It's not any more common sense.

Reportedly, Wenger confronted Busacca in the tunnel after the match, and they swore at each other. But the Gunners boss revealed nothing of the discussions.

I will keep that for UEFA if they really want to know because I will have some interesting statements to make about some statements made by people who were not supposed to say what they said. You can check any statement I made on television after the game. If I have done anything wrong I am ready to be charged.

As for what is said in the tunnel, if you can get only one thing where I have come out on what has been said against me or against the referee during my 15 years in England, I will pay for you to have a big holiday.