France coach Laurent Blanc has called for Alou Diarra to be treated with leniency, as the Bordeaux captain awaits punishment for pushing a referee in a league game at the weekend.
I hope the punishment takes into account that Alou Diarra is really a good boy, Blanc told AFP on Tuesday.
It s very unfortunate for him. Knowing him, he must be massively angry with himself. He realised straight away that he d made a huge mistake.
Diarra was sent off in Bordeaux s 1-0 win at Auxerre on Saturday after reacting to a yellow card shown to him by referee Wilfried Bien by shoving the official in the chest.
Nancy striker Youssouf Hadji was handed a six-month ban, subsequently reduced, after committing a similar offence last season.
The disciplinary commission of France s Professional Football League (LFP) are due to begin studying Diarra s case on Thursday.
The 29-year-old immediately apologised to Bien after the incident and French media reports have suggested he may therefore escape with a one-month ban.
Diarra was captain of Bordeaux under Blanc when they won the French league title in 2009 and he has worn the captain s armband in France s last three Euro 2012 qualifiers.
Sometimes when you re in the car, someone does something to you and you have a reaction that lasts two seconds, which you regret on the third second, continued Blanc.
The only problem is that there was the first and the second. That s what happened to him.
Blanc, who rotated the captaincy in the early games of his tenure as coach, said a definitive decision on France s long-term skipper would be taken at the end of the sporting year .
