Capello pressure UEFA over Rooney's three-match ban

• zocoss

  5 Dec 11, 18:45

  Capello unsure over Rooney place

  December 5, 2011

   

   

  

   

  GettyImagesFabio Capello stands next to Laurent Blanc as England pulled France in Group D and will play them in Donetsk

   

   

   

   

  England manager Fabio Capello has put extra pressure on UEFA by revealing he may leave Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney at home for Euro 2012 if the striker's current three-match international ban is not reduced.

  Capello will travel with Rooney to Nyon this week, where the forward's appeal against the suspension he received for his sending off in the final qualification match against Montenegro will be heard by a UEFA panel.

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  Having previously suggested he will take Rooney to the Championship regardless of the ban, the Italian was less convinced after attending the group stage draw on Friday - suggesting he may leave Rooney at home if he is not at least available for the last group stage match against co-hosts Ukraine.

  "I need to wait," Capello said. "I need to see how the appeal goes. The sentence, three games, was too much and I hope the appeal will help us reduce it. I hope he will be available for game three."

  However, Capello may well simply be trying to exert extra pressure on UEFA to be lenient in their appeal verdict - with the possibility of Rooney not being at the tournament a nightmare for the governing body and its key sponsors from a commercial point of view.

  The FA have already confirmed they are going to every length to try and ensure Rooney's ban is reduced, with Club England managing director Adrian Bevington revealing that legal advice has been sought from many quarters.

  "We have spoken at length with our own internal lawyers on this, and also we have been working with an external legal firm as well, who have a great deal of expertise in sports law," Bevington said. "We go there, obviously, with the hope of at least getting some reduction in the suspension so Wayne can play a more fulsome part in the tournament, if possible."

  There is a precedent for a ban reduction, with Russia's Andrei Arshavin seeing his suspension reduced to two games prior to Euro 2008.