Atletico handed two match home ban by UEFA

[robledo]

Liverpool's Champions League clash away to Atletico Madrid will be played at a neutral venue after the Spaniards were hit with a stadium ban by Uefa.

Uefa have handed Atletico a three-match stadium ban at their Vicente Calderon home after crowd trouble and racist abuse marred their win over Marseille earlier this month.

The Spanish club have been fined 150,000 euros (£120,000) in what is the heaviest punishment dished out by Uefa for acts of racism.

Atletico coach Javier Aguirre has also been banned for his club's home and away fixtures against Liverpool for insulting Marseille players.

Uefa have confirmed Atletico's next two Champions League home games can not be played within 300 kilometres of Madrid.

The third match ban will only be invoked if there is a repeat of crowd trouble or racist chanting within the next five years.

Atletico have confirmed they plan to appeal against the ban with the Spanish club having until Friday to launch their protest.

Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry has hit out at the timing of the decision from Uefa saying it causes a major disruption for fans who had already planned to travel to Spain for the game.
Unhappy

"To say the decision is a bit late in the day, is to put it mildly," said Parry.

"We have 3,000 fans going to the game and we are extremely concerned for our supporters, the vast majority of whom have already made travel arrangements.

"If the match is played at least 300 kilometres from Madrid, it will cause major disruption, inconvenience and large additional expense for our fans.

"Uefa have to take their needs into account when making a final decision on the game."

Uefa spokesman William Gaillard outlined the reasons for the European governing body's stringent action, which follows Monday's announcement that England will refuse to play in Madrid when they take on Spain in a proposed friendly - because of past racist incidents.

"I understand the fears of the players," Gaillard said.

"That is exactly why we are acting with renewed strength - to make sure that in the future England players will not be threatened by this kind of behaviour."

[BocaFan]

Liverpool's Champions League clash away to Atletico Madrid will be played at a neutral venue after the Spaniards were hit with a stadium ban by Uefa.

I like how they think that 300km from Madrid is neutral. :p

[frasermc]

it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see this being reduced after appeal.

[MilanOnlyMilan]

Spanish police in action before this match ( in away support sector ): http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/atletico%2Bmarseille/video/x6y70o_atleticoolympique-de-marseille-guar_sport
If am not mistaken, they wanted to take the banner from the fans, because there is a skull painted on it. Massive overreaction by the Spanish police once again.

[Prawn Sandwich]

Sorry but I don't see the link between that and the acts of racism - am I missing something?

[MilanOnlyMilan]

Sorry but I don't see the link between that and the acts of racism - am I missing something?

Talking to me? If so, the video is from the same match, and i didn't see anyone mentioning this. That has become quite a problem in recent times during football matches in Spain.

[Prawn Sandwich]

Ah, it's just that the way the punishment announcement is worded it appears to only relate to the racism and not the violence.

Do you have more info on the crowd troubles - I hadn't heard about this recent increase

[johan neeskens]

Spanish police in action before this match ( in away support sector ): http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/atletico%2Bmarseille/video/x6y70o_atleticoolympique-de-marseille-guar_sport
If am not mistaken, they wanted to take the banner from the fans, because there is a skull painted on it. Massive overreaction by the Spanish police once again.

That's what I commented on after the Getafe v Twente game last season. The Spanish police were beating up Twente fans for standing up on their seats! Idiots.

[MilanOnlyMilan]

Ah, it's just that the way the punishment announcement is worded it appears to only relate to the racism and not the violence.

Do you have more info on the crowd troubles - I hadn't heard about this recent increase

I am not talking about crowd troubles in Spain, but purely about unexplainable behaviour of Spanish police, beating away supporters for no reason (or practically for no reason).

[Prawn Sandwich]

I am not talking about crowd troubles in Spain, but purely about unexplainable behaviour of Spanish police, beating away supporters for no reason (or practically for no reason).
Gotcha (sorry for being so dense, not enough caffeine this morning!).

Spain isn't the only one suffering from these aggressive police actions at football games at the moment, it's a shame that a more common sense approach isn't taken as this policy only serves to escalate minor issues into ones where innocent fans are dragged into it and it blows up from there

[zirosz]

Sorry but I don't see the link between that and the acts of racism - am I missing something?

You can't see it cause there were no racist acts at all. UEFA is just looking for someone to blame for whatever happened between spanish police and OM fans. Going against police means messing with the spanish goverment, and that means a major headache (in fact spanish goverment has already got in touch with uefa to complain about their acusations of police brutality).

So, they just invented a lot of crap stories about racist abuse and mistreating handicaped people and thats it, there you have a reason to blame Atletico.

My opinion on this... well when i first saw the police beating the fans two weeks ago i thought they overreacted. But yesterday they started to show unpublished footage on tv where you can see OM fans spitting to atletico fans below, throwing chairs against them and against police, and pushing people and mocking policemen... now i am not so sure about who started it all. But even if it was police fault, Atletico couldnt do anything about it, they dont have nothing to do with police decisions.

And my opinion about the racism bullshit and other stupid stuff is that uefa should apologize to atletico de madrid. They have just screwed it up on this big time.

[MilanOnlyMilan]

You can't see it cause there were no racist acts at all. UEFA is just looking for someone to blame for whatever happened between spanish police and OM fans. Going against police means messing with the spanish goverment, and that means a major headache (in fact spanish goverment has already got in touch with uefa to complain about their acusations of police brutality).

So, they just invented a lot of crap stories about racist abuse and mistreating handicaped people and thats it, there you have a reason to blame Atletico.

My opinion on this... well when i first saw the police beating the fans two weeks ago i thought they overreacted. But yesterday they started to show unpublished footage on tv where you can see OM fans spitting to atletico fans below, throwing chairs against them and against police, and pushing people and mocking policemen... now i am not so sure about who started it all. But even if it was police fault, Atletico couldnt do anything about it, they dont have nothing to do with police decisions.

And my opinion about the racism bullshit and other stupid stuff is that uefa should apologize to atletico de madrid. They have just screwed it up on this big time.
That's true, but it's clear that some measures have to be taken to stop such police bahaviour. It's not the first time they (police in Spain) are acting like animals with visiting fans, and clearly, they feel that they won't be punished for that.

[Prawn Sandwich]

You can't see it cause there were no racist acts at all. UEFA is just looking for someone to blame for whatever happened between spanish police and OM fans. Going against police means messing with the spanish goverment, and that means a major headache (in fact spanish goverment has already got in touch with uefa to complain about their acusations of police brutality).

So, they just invented a lot of crap stories about racist abuse and mistreating handicaped people and thats it, there you have a reason to blame Atletico.

My opinion on this... well when i first saw the police beating the fans two weeks ago i thought they overreacted. But yesterday they started to show unpublished footage on tv where you can see OM fans spitting to atletico fans below, throwing chairs against them and against police, and pushing people and mocking policemen... now i am not so sure about who started it all. But even if it was police fault, Atletico couldnt do anything about it, they dont have nothing to do with police decisions.

And my opinion about the racism bullshit and other stupid stuff is that uefa should apologize to atletico de madrid. They have just screwed it up on this big time.
So there were no monkey chants aimed at Taiwo after he fouled Aguero? The two journalists weren't racially abused?

[zirosz]

That's true, but it's clear that some measures have to be taken to stop such police bahaviour. It's not the first time they (police in Spain) are acting like animals with visiting fans, and clearly, they feel that they won't be punished for that.

As I said i dont think punishing Atletico will stop police from doing this. If police decide they must get into the stadium and beat some fans, they will do it no matter what the club thinks about that.

If UEFA thinks police did anything wrong and want to make something about it, i guess there are courts and laws to turn to. But maybe they dont have the guts to take that step, its easier to blame the club.

[zirosz]

So there were no monkey chants aimed at Taiwo after he fouled Aguero? The two journalists weren't racially abused?

Absolutely not, there were boohs and noise, as its usual when a rival beats the shit out of a home player. And that thing about the journalist... I just would like to know who are those journalist and what happened to them. I would like to hear them explaining exactly what were the specific racist offenses they received, cause this sounds to me like a lot of accusations and no proofs.

The only proofs are: lack of racist chants during the match, no reports from the stewards about racist acts, and no reports from the ref. There are even images of the black president of OM leaving the stadium walking right in front of the stands, and he gets some offenses, but none of them are racist.

PS: Even more, some OM players like Vitorino Hilton have stated they didnt hear any racist offenses.

[Prawn Sandwich]

Absolutely not, there were boohs and noise, as its usual when a rival beats the shit out of a home player.

That's debatable - I've seen some comments stating it was just the fans chanting "Kun. Kun. Kun.", others stating it was monkey chants. Given the precedents of local Madrid fans using monkey chants (let alone the actions of the Frente Atletico) then it's hardly surprising which way UEFA fell in making their determination.

And that thing about the journalist... I just would like to know who are those journalist and what happened to them. I would like to hear them explaining exactly what were the specific racist offenses they received, cause this sounds to me like a lot of accusations and no proofs.

I highly doubt that UEFA would state specifically that this incident happened with no evidence.

The only proofs are: lack of racist chants during the match, no reports from the stewards about racist acts, and no reports from the ref.

As I said, the interpretation of the nature of the chants is open to debate.

There are even images of the black president of OM leaving the stadium walking right in front of the stands, and he gets some offenses, but none of them are racist.

Unless these images are in a video form how can you tell what the offensive comments are?

PS: Even more, some OM players like Vitorino Hilton have stated they didnt hear any racist offenses.

Yet some did - which ones are right and which are wrong I don't know but given the precedents it's hardly beyond the realms of possibility

[zirosz]

That's debatable - I've seen some comments stating it was just the fans chanting "Kun. Kun. Kun.", others stating it was monkey chants. Given the precedents of local Madrid fans using monkey chants (let alone the actions of the Frente Atletico) then it's hardly surprising which way UEFA fell in making their determination.



I highly doubt that UEFA would state specifically that this incident happened with no evidence.



As I said, the interpretation of the nature of the chants is open to debate.



Unless these images are in a video form how can you tell what the offensive comments are?



Yet some did - which ones are right and which are wrong I don't know but given the precedents it's hardly beyond the realms of possibility

- I dont think its debatable at all. Maybe it is difficult for a non-spanish speaker to distinguish those chants, but me and anyone can tell perfectly well when its kun and when its uh. Plus is a very usual chant in Atletico stadium (kun one, of course). Anyway those chants didnt happen when taiwo tackled agüero if im not mistaken, so it has nothing to do with that.

- I dont care wether its uefa or the pope. When this type of extremely serious accusations happen i want detailed and specific facts, and i havent got any so far. But i will agree with you that is hard to think that uefa is lying, at least intentionally, and if i gave you the impression i was suggesting such thing, then you got me wrong. What i actually do is that Uefa, for some reason, took for granted all the accusations OM has thrown with regard to all this subject, and they have taken advantage of this to blame Atletico.

- Of course i was talking about video footage. In spain we also use the word images when talking about video, i got confused in the translation ;)

[Prawn Sandwich]

- I dont think its debatable at all. Maybe it is difficult for a non-spanish speaker to distinguish those chants, but me and anyone can tell perfectly well when its kun and when its uh. Plus is a very usual chant in Atletico stadium (kun one, of course). Anyway those chants didnt happen when taiwo tackled agüero if im not mistaken, so it has nothing to do with that.

- I dont care wether its uefa or the pope. When this type of extremely serious accusations happen i want detailed and specific facts, and i havent got any so far. But i will agree with you that is hard to think that uefa is lying, at least intentionally, and if i gave you the impression i was suggesting such thing, then you got me wrong. What i actually do believe is that uefa, for some reason, took for granted all the accusations OM has thrown with regard to all this subject, and they have taken advantage of this to blame Atletico.

- Of course i was talking about video footage. In spain we also use the word images when talking about video, i got confused in the translation ;)
I found the following article which gives a pretty balanced overview of the UEFA fine/penalty and confirms the uncertainty of the chants in this incident

Accusations of racism have surprised Atletico fans. Marseille have a number of black players but only one received significant abuse, the Nigerian full-back Taye Taiwo. He was singled out after a dreadful challenge on Sergio Aguero and was subjected to abuse for the rest of the match. Amid the din in the stadium it was hard to judge where the boos ended and the uh-uh-uhs began, if indeed they even did. It is tempting to wonder, too, if Uefa observers and hurt French players and officials were fooled by the war cry of Atletico fans. Aguero's nickname is El Kun, his every touch greeted with guttural, almost simian chants of "Kun! Kun! Kun!" If Uefa did reach the wrong conclusion, it was perhaps comprehensible. After all, while Atletico rightly pride themselves on having some of the best, noisiest, most passionate fans in Spain, they also have some of the worst. Racist chanting is nothing new at the Calderon – especially not from the club's notorious Frente Atletico, the ultras who congregate in the south end, store their paraphernalia under the stands and invariably get access to tickets.

The Frente, who still glory in the stabbing to death of a young Real Sociedad fan by the name of Aitor Zabaleta over a decade ago, managed to complete almost a complete circuit of the stadium to attack Bolton fans during a Uefa Cup match last season, threw bananas at Espanyol goalkeeper Carlos Kameni and revel in their right-win politics. Pre-constitutional flags and chants of "Franco! Franco! Franco!", like monkey chants, are part of their match-day ritual as are the missile throwing and violence. It is a ritual that Uefa clearly believe has been tolerated for too long.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/liverpool/3197707/Atletico-Madrids-home-game-ban-by-Uefa-for-fans-racism-causes-uproar-in-Spain-Football.html

For me, I wish that UEFA would be required to provide more detail on the reasons and evidence they have reviewed prior to making their decisions. At the very least it would go some way to ensuring that they become consistent in the application of their punishments compared to the scattergun approach they seem to use up till now

[Borussia]

Good news to hear of this fine! :)

It's not the first time that their fans couldn't behave ... so they finally got what they deserve! :cool:

[Catel]

An innocent Marseille Ultras fan is at this time hold in jail, as a scapegoat of the Guardia Civil who never had the single reason to charge Marseille fans !

Santos Mirasierra, French-Spanish fan, did NOTHING and the videos clearly show that no charge could be put on him. He didn't throw any object onto the policemen. He was closer to the target than to the responsibles. He was trying to discuss as he can speak Spanish and the Guardia took him !

Santos is now a political hostage between the Spanish police and the UEFA, and the decision the judge should take about him has been once more postponed !

The Spanish government shamely defends the fascists of Frente and the French authorities are desperately mute !

The banner is deployed by the Ultras at every match of Marseille since their foundation in 1984, and was never a problem in France nor in other countries.

The banner caused no problem with the UEFA for this match and the Guardia Civil decided by itself to take it off. Marseille fans refused, so the police charged and the fans reacted and defended themselves by throwing chairs.

Numerous fans were hit to blood including some who never attempt to the policemen's security.
Other Marseille fans were attacked by the police in their own bus after the match.

Hilton is the only player of OM who's saying he didn't see anything. Guess who is cited in the Spanish newspapers ?

"20 minutos" is disgusting and clearly lying when they show the "weapons" Sevillan fans would have "given" to the Marseille fans ! They're lying by saying the fans couldn't take them directly because they came by plane: they came by bus !
OM fans never attack in first, never provoke by themselves. You can't find any fact of violence between fans in the 10 last years that they caused.

A big thank to the fans of Rayo Vallecano who supported the fans of Marseille, a few days ago !


This is the "racist" and "offensive" skull of the Ultras...
http://om1899.football.fr/images/cu84%20n1.TN__.jpg

That justifies a charge of the police, more than racist shouts and sieg heils (yes, there were), doesn't it ?