The decision by sport's highest court to uphold a ruling that Atletico Madrid must play a Champions League match in an empty stadium because of alleged racist behaviour by its fans is "deeply unfair", Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Friday.
"I think it is deeply unfair. I express my full solidarity with Atletico," he told public radio RNE. "I really regret it because if you look at it closely, first they punished them for racist offences and when it was shown that they did not take place they sanctioned them for the way police handled it," he said. "I am a football fan, I watch matches every Sunday and if you punish Atletico Madrid for this, stadiums would not open in half of Europe," he added.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) halved Thursday a fine for Atletico Madrid to 75,000 euros (94,000 dollars) after its fans appeared to chant racist insults during a Champions League fixture against Marseille on October 1.
But the court said Atletico's upcoming Champions League match in their Vicente Calderon stadium against PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday must still be played behind closed doors. European football's top governing body UEFA had on October 14 imposed a two-match spectators ban and a fine of 150,000 euros, but then reduced it to a one-match ban.
Atletico appealed to CAS, which agreed with the club's argument that UEFA did not have evidence to prove its fans were racist and violent during the match. But the court also criticised the lack of co-ordination between police and those responsible for security at Atletico's stadium.
Spanish media have estimated that the closure of Atletico's stadium for next week's match would cost the club 500,000 euros in lost revenues. Hundreds of Dutch supporters of PSV are expected to cancel their trip to Madrid. Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cereza said he was "very disappointed" and added: "UEFA should now explain to clubs how they should organise security at their stadiums," he said.
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