Arsenal's anger over Abou Diaby's fractured ankle shows no sign of abating after Kolo Toure and Cesc Fabregas accused Sunderland's Dan Smith of deliberately attempting to hurt the French midfielder.
Diaby is out of the Champions League final with a fractured and dislocated angle after the lunge by fellow 19-year-old Smith.
Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas has also expressed his bafflement at the challenge, which happened with the Gunners 3-0 up at the Stadium of Light and with only a minute left on the clock.
Toure is normally mild-mannered but he was infuriated by the lunge on Diaby, who joined the Gunners in the January transfer window.
He told the London Evening Standard: "It wasn't an accident. He just came in to try to hurt the player, which is really, really bad. I definitely think he went for the player and not for the ball.
"They made bad tackles all the way through the second half. I said that someone would be injured if it continued and two minutes later it happened.
"They wanted to show desire because they were 3-0 down at half-time, but to show desire is not to kick or to hurt the player."
Sunderland's caretaker manager Kevin Ball insisted Smith, who was making only his fourth appearance, wasn't being malicious .
But Fabregas said that would be little solace to Diaby whose dreams of appearing in the Champions League final were now over.
The teenage midfielder said: "I am disappointed with them about this. The game was almost over and we were winning 3-0 and it was an unnecessary tackle.
"If you miss the final because of something like that it's not nice and Abou does not deserve that. We cannot afford to lose any more players now in our remaining two games."
