Henry insists Diarra storm won't have an effect on second leg
Related Articles
Wednesday November 18 2009
THE French camp are insisting that there will be no spill-over in Paris tonight from the post-match melee in Dublin last Saturday night.
French midfielder Lassana Diarra and Keith Andrews engaged in what can be called a 'bit of afters' when the final whistle was blown on Saturday night and since then the row over what Diarra said -- or did not say -- to the Blackburn Rovers man has raged on in the media, both in Ireland and in France.
But France captain Thierry Henry says the matter is over and done with.
"What happened after the game in Dublin is a side issue, it won't have an effect on the game tonight," said Henry, a stance also taken by his manager Raymond Domenech.
"What happened after the game is not a problem, we are not worried about things like that. We are used to dealing with side issues and they never interfere with the main issues for us," Domenech insisted before the French squad had their final training session last night, as he discounted a suggestion from Giovanni Trapattoni that Diarra had indeed insulted Andrews.
"Trapattoni was near me when it happened so I doubt if Trapattoni was able to hear what Diarra said," added Domenech.
- Aidan Fitzmaurice
