THE foreign secretary, David Miliband, has put a highly undiplomatic boot into overseas football players after seeing his favourite team crash out of the Champions League last week.

After Liverpool beat Arsenal 4-2, Miliband let rip on his blog on the Foreign Office’s official website.

He lambasted the “dodgy” Swedish referee; accused a Dutch player of falling over “rather too easily”; and complained that Philippe Senderos, a Swiss defender for Arsenal, “left half of north London cursing that he was ever let into the country”.

Although the foreign secretary’s comments in last Tuesday’s entry may be applauded by fellow Arsenal fans, they failed to provoke much humour among European nations on the receiving end.

Elsbeth Baxter, sports attaché at the Swiss embassy, defended Senderos. “He may not have had his best game at Anfield, but that is not a reason for a diplomatic incident between two friendly nations,” she said.

“Let’s keep a hold of our emotions and reserve these emotions for the biggest European football festival this year - Euro 2008 held in Switzerland and Austria.” The England team has not qualified for the tournament.

Winston Haatrecht, agent for Ryan Babel, the midfielder criticised by Miliband for his tumble, denied that he had faked the fall: “He is wrong, Ryan did not dive, he is not that kind of player. Sometimes people say in their grief things they regret afterwards.”

A frustrated Miliband posted his blog at 4.10pm the day after the match, which Liverpool won after scoring a controversial penalty. He described the players’ performance in their national terms, claiming the defeat by Liverpool at Anfield was “not a good night for European unity”.

Arsenal fans and Arsène Wenger, the team manager, claimed the referee’s decision to grant a penalty was “dodgy”. The foreign secretary agreed.

Chris Grayling, shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “It looks as if we need a proper referee and more red cards around the cabinet table, not on the football pitch.”

It is not the first time the foreign secretary has seemed more concerned about his football team than diplomacy.

After the recent visit of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, to Arsenal’s stadium, Miliband wrote in his blog: “Many friends have had one question: did I get an introduction and a picture? The answer is yes: I am now the proud owner of a handshake, a picture and an autograph from . . . Arsene Wenger.”

Read Miliband's Foreign Office blog

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