By Andrew Warshaw
November 30 – In a rare move, Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg are going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after the Russian Football Union (RFU) turned down their appeal against being punished following serious crowd trouble at the recent domestic fixture at Dynamo Moscow.
The November 17 game was abandoned when the referee led the players off the pitch after 36 minutes after Dynamo goalkeeper Anton Shunin was hit by a firecracker thrown from the stands.
Shunin (pictured below) was taken to hospital with burns after the device exploded in his face causing burns to his eyes and a loss of hearing.
Zenit executive director Maxim Mitrofanov said at the time that despite the fact the flare came from the away section Dynamo should take the blame as hosts.
But the RFU awarded Dynamo a 3-0 win and ordered Zenit to play two home games behind closed doors, while each club was fined.
Taking a domestic disciplinary matter to the CAS is highly unusual but Zenit insist they have been hard done by.
“Zenit feel that during the hearing, the appeals committee did not take into account all the facts, did not identify the person responsible for throwing the flare and also failed to prove that it was a Zenit fan,” the Russian champions said on their website.
“Therefore, Zenit intend to take their appeal to the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.”
The third-placed club have already threatened to pull out of the league and the penalty is a huge blow to Luciano Spalletti’s team in their bid to retain the title.
The big spenders, owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom, went out of the Champions League last week and play their final group game at AC Milan on Tuesday (December 4).
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