Dabizas cries foul over opponent who broke his noise, bruised his knee
LONDON (Reuters) – Newcastle United’s Greek international Nikos Dabizas has condemned Leeds United’s Australian international Mark Viduka after the two players clashed twice in a premier league game on Saturday. Striker Viduka escaped punishment after Dabizas sustained a broken nose in an aerial collision and later in the match the Leeds player was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on the Newcastle defender. He (Viduka) should have got a yellow card for the first incident, when he broke my nose with his elbow, Dabizas was quoted as saying in The Daily Mirror newspaper on Monday. There’s a difference between being physical and being violent. The tackle was bad. It was above my knee and I was playing the ball on the ground. His studs were over a foot above the ground. I thought it was my cruciate ligament. It was a nasty kick above the knee. At the time I feared the worst. I was in unbelievable pain and it should have been a straight red card. If it had been inches lower, it would have broken my kneecap. It would have been major, said Dabizas, who had to be replaced toward the end of the first half. Leeds manager David O’Leary tried to play down the second incident. It was just a stupid center-forward’s tackle, he said. Newcastle came back from 3-1 down to win 4-3 and take a three-point lead at the top of the premier league. How did you manage to work in the same theater in the last 30 years, without actually owning it?
