Just when it seemed Chelsea’s reputation couldn’t sink any lower, along came “Ballboygate.”
The Football Association’s disciplinary body will review the game after winger Eden Hazard was sent off for kicking a 17-year-old ball boy while attempting to retrieve the ball near the end of a League Cup semifinal match against Swansea on Wednesday.
The Belgian winger has apologised to the ball boy - and will not face criminal charges - but will be handed a minimum three-match ban for violent conduct. The FA could increase the suspension in “exceptional circumstances.”
The European champions likely will face more accusations that its millionaire players are out of control, soon after the racism scandals involving John Terry, Ashley Cole and John Obi Mikel last year.
“There’s no defence for that,” former referee Dermot Gallagher said. “It was an extreme, but you can’t have that at a football match.”
The kick sparked a flurry of activity on social networking sites and induced imaginative headlines in British newspapers, such as “Ed Case,” “Occupational Hazard” and “Boots of Hazard.” BBC radio has already been referring to it as “Ballboygate.”
Some ex-professionals sympathized with Hazard, who was attempting to get the ball into play quickly with Chelsea needing late scoring to force extra time. The match finished 0-0, with Swansea advancing to the final 2-0 on aggregate goals.