Real Madrid centre-back Ricardo Carvalho faces an international suspension of between one and three months, including Champions League matches, after walking out of the Portuguese national team’s training camp on Wednesday.
After learning that he was not in the side to play Cyprus on Friday, Carvalho left the Portugal camp and immediately announced he had retired from international football, saying he had been shown “a lack of respect and felt hurt.”
Carvalho was then accused by Portuguese Head Coach Paulo Bento of “turning his back on his colleagues and his country.” Bento also vowed never to select him again, saying: “We count on players that are reliable and want to help Portugal, despite being second or third choice. Professionalism is measured everywhere people work.”
Carvalho is unrepentant saying in a statement: “If they make me feel not wanted and they don’t tell me, then the only possibility is to leave.”
The cat fight between a player and a coach could escalate into a club v country row as Amandio de Carvalho, Vice-President of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), says he intends to ask UEFA to ban Carvalho from European competition, although he wants to talk to the former Porto and Chelsea man before doing so.
According to UEFA rules, the organisation’s Control and Disciplinary Committee may adopt sanctions imposed by FIFA members (in this case the FPF) at the request of the federation concerned for acts committed within their jurisdiction. Thus, the sanction the Portuguese could ask to be imposed on Carvalho can be extended to all European competitions, meaning he could be banned from playing in the Champions League.
Considering that Portugal’s best player players for Real Madrid, who are also coached by a Portuguese coach, you would think that the two sides could agree that this is a tempest in a tea cup. To ban Carvalho from Champions League matches because he walked out on Portugal is ludicrous.
