Gunners striker Nicklas Bendtner has faced the wrath of UEFA after receiving a hefty fine and suspension for his antics in a Euro 2012 fixture. The 24-year-old lowered his shorts to reveal a gambling brand on his underpants after scoring against Portugal in Denmark’s penultimate group game.
However, due to UEFA’s relationship with other gambling companies, the organisation have decided to slap Bendtner with a hefty £80,000 fine and also ban him for Denmark’s next match.
Bendtner, who has spent the campaign on loan at Sunderland, scored his only goal of the tournament when he fired in a consolation strike against the Portuguese. However, it would appear as though that goal was more hassle than it’s worth, with his celebration being costly to say the least. The big Dane claims that he had no idea he was in breach of any rules, while players such as Rio Ferdinand have leapt to his defence and stated that UEFA are completely out of order in how they have dealt with the situation.
Unfortunately for Bendtner, the forward has had to endure more misery after his country exited the tournament following a defeat to Germany in their final group game. Bearing this in mind, the focus for the Copenhagen-born man has to be his future, which is certainly up in the air.
It would be fair to say that Bendtner has never really made a lasting impression on the Arsenal first team and there were few surprised faces when he made the move out on loan to Sunderland last term. He has said in numerous interviews that he needs to be playing regular first team football and following the acquisition of Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski, that would appear very unlikely at the Emirates Stadium.
However, it was Steve Bruce who initially brought Bendtner to Sunderland and with the Black Cats now managed by Martin O’Neill, it remains to be seen whether or not the Dane features in their plans anymore.
