UEFA will not budge on Tel Aviv decision: Johansson (ENG)

ZURICH, March 7 (AFP)
The president of European football's governing body Lennart Johansson reaffirmed here Thursday that UEFA would not budge from its decision *****spend all European football competition in Israel.
A quarter-final, first leg tie between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Italian giants AC Milan was due to be held in Israel on March 14, but on Wednesday UEFA suspended all European competition matches in the country until further notice because of the escalating violence there.
UEFA said that the match must be staged at a neutral venue, drawing shapr criticism from Israel.
However Johansson said he would not bow to pressure as long as security was at stake.
"Since (we made) this decision we've been under a lot of pressure, mostly concerning the match between Hapoel Tel Aviv and AC Milan," said Johansson Thursday.
"We took this decision for reasons of security, and we will not be persuaded otherwise," added the UEFA president.
On Wednesday Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon had complained: "The UEFA decision is a grave one and we need to change it."




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