UEFA crackdown puts Lazio behind closed doors, Fenerbahce too, but The Drog plays on

In a damaging blow to their chances of progressing further in the Europa League, Lazio’s first game in an empty Olympic stadium in Rome will be against Stuttgart in next week’s round of 16 as their supporters pay the price for continued trouble.

Racist incidents occurred in both the home and away group matches with Tottenham Hotspur, the group match with Maribor and, most recently, the last-32 home leg against Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Lazio president Claudio Lotito was furious and said an appeal would be lodged. “Two games behind closed doors, it’s incredible,” Lotito told Italian broadcaster Rai. “It’s an abnormal sanction with respect to the reality, Lazio did everything we could and ought to have done to stop what happened. To suffer a punishment of one or two games behind closed doors, which will cause serious economic damage to the club and prevent fans from participating in an event like this, seems absurd to me.”

UEFA have frequently been criticised for being too lenient but are now clearly getting tough.

Fenerbahce must also play their next home European match in an empty stadium and were additionally hit with a suspended season-long ban from all UEFA competition after supporters threw fireworks from outside the stadium in the Europa League last-32 game with BATE Borisov.

That match was itself played behind closed doors as part of an earlier punishment but fans still managed to hurl flares on to the pitch from outside.  “Those who sent these flares must be idiots,” UEFA observer Stefano Farina said. The Turkish club, thrown out of Europe last season for match-fixing, have also been fined €60,000 Euros.

Meanwhile, UEFA have rejected a protest by Schalke over Didier Drogba being included in the Galatasaray team in the recent Champions League tie between the sides.  The Bundesliga outfit claimed the former Chelsea forward had not been registered in time to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition. However, UEFA ruled the Ivory Coast star had been registered by February 1.

Had they been found guilty of fielding an ineligible player, Galatasaray faced going into the return leg in Germany on March 12 with a 3-0 deficit. Instead the tie is poised at 1-1.