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The Spanish government got involved after Atlético was handed a three competition ban by UEFA, due to a crowd trouble, that included racists banners during their Champions League match with Marseille last October 1st. When an entire country, including media, sponsors and even the nation’s president getting involved to avoid a sanction, such as the one the Spanish club received by UEFA, it means some drastic choices must be taken and it should be done quickly, because after all many good willing fans are paying a high price. The Atlético by all means is not in favor of the decision, which has affected the Spanish club financially, due to the fact that their Wednesday October 22 match against Liverpool will have to be re-organized by them. The game will have to be played at no-less than 300 kilometers away from the capital of Spain, in a “neutral area” as the UEFA President Michel Platini stated. Early indications are that the game is now likely to take place in Valencia. The whole problem started after Marseille’s President Pape Diouf, made an executive protest to UEFA, after followers run into the police in an incident which left many injured and stopped the match for a while. So, basically Club Atlético de Madrid has been handed a stadium outlaw for three UEFA club competition matches. Now, the veto for the third UEFA match is postponed for a trial period of five years, so if the club improves to avoid issues such as the ones in October 1st, they will be allowed to play home matches under UEFAs watchful eye. Although UEFA took the disciplinary act against Atletico as a consequence, the sentence will also have an outcome on the England club fans’. With thousands of Liverpool followers set to make the journey to Madrid, many will have made arrangements and paid for passage and lodging by now _so, it remains to be seen if UEFA would do something about those who will lose out monetarily… or perhaps the club will compensate the fans for the inconvenience? The Spanish sports media is questioning why UEFA waited 14 days to take a decision when thousands of fans already went to trouble enough to get the tickets and have finished their travel preparations, so they consider that any judgment against Atlético should be taken after the Liverpool game on October 22nd. Many sports media also criticize Atlético for focusing only on the monetary issue, instead of evaluating an anti-racism campaign, which lead to this problem at first place. I wouldn’t be able to affirm whether Atlético should be punish or not, neither if UEFA does not care for followers; but the fact that racism in sports still exists in the 21st century is something to be concerned about. At least UEFA is finally putting these problems on top of their agenda, which is also creating consciousness in the rest of the clubs, who are trying to avoid similar results like the ones at Vicente Calderón ground.
Article Source: http://www.new.citynewslive.com
Chuck Berkley is a true fan and sports writer of UEFA reviews and Sports Betting. Feel free to reprint this article in its whole on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content
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