Wolfsburg’s Diego escapes punishment after Bundesliga game
Wolfsburg playmaker Diego Ribas da Cunha, commonly known as Diego, will go unpunished for his involvement in a clash with Bayer Leverkusen’s Arturo Vidal in last weekend’s Bundesliga match.
Wolfsburg lost the league match 3-2, and both players scored in the game, but the Bundesliga fixture will be most remembered for the incident between Diego and Vidal.
The disciplinary commission of the German Football Federation (DFB) was expected to proceed with an action against Diego, and the clubs were asked to provide statements regarding the incident.
However, the disciplinary commission dropped the case and released a statement saying, "The Disciplinary Committee came to the conclusion that no extremely adverse sporting misbehaviour could be established and therefore, there is no prerequisite for a retrospective
punishment."
"The decision made by the DFB was, above all, influenced by the statement made by Arturo Vidal."
The committee also took into consideration Diego’s past disciplinary record.
Wolfsburg’s new manager, Steve McClaren, will be relieved that his star player will not face a suspension and will be able to feature in this weekend’s match against Nuremberg.
Wolfsburg have made a poor start to the league under former England manager McClaren. Diego, who had a bad spell with Juventus, has returned to the Bundesliga and his form is one of the few positives that McClaren can take from his first season in charge.
Had the player been found guilty by the disciplinary committee, he could have missed up to three league games.
The midfielder can now concentrate on football matters and will hope to continue his good form with the German side.
McClaren will be eager to start Diego in as many matches as possible and suspension could have further derailed the club’s poor start to the season.
Wolfsburg are in 12th position and have only taken 10 points from eight games so far.
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