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Where's Leboeuf? World Cup star faces lengthy ban for alleged stamping
Posted: Thursday December 30, 1999 11:22 AM
LONDON (AP) -- French World Cup player Frank Leboeuf faces a lengthy suspension in the new Millennium after being charged with misconduct on Thursday for allegedly stamping on Leeds' Australian forward Harry Kewell in a Premier League game. The Chelsea defender was ejected in his team's 2-0 loss to the league leader December 19 for a second yellow card. After his expulsion, he appeared to stamp on Kewell as the Aussie striker lay on the ground. A Football Association spokesman said on Thursday that match referee Jeff Winter had referred to the stamping incident in his report and, if the allegation is proved, Leboeuf faces a ban of up to four games when the season resumes in January. The talented French defender has collected eight yellow and two red cars this season and team manager Gianluca Vialli says the player has unfairly become a target for referees because of his robust style of defending. "I just want him to be treated in a fair way. I don't want to protect him because sometimes I've had to admit he has made mistakes," Vialli sad after Leboeuf was showed the yellow card for a foul on Sheffield Wednesday's Niclas Alexandersson on Wednesday. "I'm the first to say when he does and I want to say he didn't deserve that. "Frank has done something wrong in the past. He got sent off and yellow carded a few times but it seems that at the moment he is a kind of target. "He didn't touch the player, the referee didn't see the tackle and as soon as he realized it was Frank Leboeuf, he booked him. It's not fair on Frank Leboeuf," Vialli said. "It seems to me at the moment, everybody wants to have a go at him, even the opponents."
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