UEFA charged Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and midfielder Samir Nasri with improper conduct on Wednesday for comments to referee Massimo Busacca after their team's Champions League elimination against Barcelona.
Wenger argued furiously with the Swiss official on the sidelines after Arsenal's 3-1 loss Tuesday, and the dispute continued in the tunnel. Arsenal lost 4-3 on aggregate.
Wenger was angry that forward Robin van Persie was shown a second yellow card at 1-1 in the 56th minute. Busacca ruled that Van Persie deliberately kicked the ball away when shooting at goal immediately after being ruled offside.
UEFA studied reports from Busacca and match delegate Dane Jost of Slovenia before asking its disciplinary unit to open cases.
Arsenal also must answer a charge that it was responsible for the late kickoffs in the both the first and second half at the Nou Camp, the European football authority said.
UEFA's disciplinary panel will hear the cases on March 17.
Article 10 of UEFA's disciplinary rules states that players or officials should be suspended for at least two European competition matches in cases of ''pestering or insulting any match official.''
Van Persie, who was not charged Wednesday, called his second yellow card a ''total joke.'' The Netherlands forward claimed he hadn't heard Busacca's whistle amid the noise of a 95,000-plus crowd.
''He's been bad all evening, whistling against us. I don't know why he's here tonight,'' Van Persie said. ''We feel betrayed a bit. When it was 1-1 it was all to play for and in my opinion this referee killed the game.''
Wenger said Busacca's decision to send off Van Persie was ''embarrassing.''
''If you play football at a certain level you cannot understand this decision,'' Wenger said. ''To take the decision in that way and how quickly he did it.''
Busacca has been rated one of Europe's top referees for several years and was selected by UEFA to handle the 2009 Champions League final. He won praise as Barcelona beat Manchester United 2-0 in Rome.
The 42-year-old Busacca has also been at the center of controversies.
In September 2009, he aimed an obscene hand gesture at fans who verbally abused him during a Swiss Cup match. He accepted he acted badly, apologized and served a three-match suspension.
''It was just human reaction. Like a player in a game when he uses bad words,'' Busacca told The Associated Press in an interview before leaving for the 2010 World Cup.
However, Busacca found trouble in his first match in South Africa. He sent off the host team's goalkeeper, Itumeleng Khune, in its 3-0 loss against Uruguay for tripping Luis Suarez in the penalty area.
South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said Busacca ''doesn't deserve to be here,'' and FIFA did not award him another match.
