MOSCOW, October 30 (R-Sport) – Russian football team CSKA Moscow has been given a partial stadium ban for "racist behavior" by fans during a 2-1 Champions League loss to Manchester City earlier this month, UEFA said Wednesday.
After the game, Man City midfielder Yaya Toure said he had been taunted with monkey chants, and asked UEFA to ban CSKA from using its stadium for European games for "a couple of years or maybe a couple of months."
CSKA will have to close one of the stands at its home Arena Khimki stadium when it hosts Bayern in its next Champions League fixture November 27. The sector cited in the UEFA sanctions is usually occupied by CSKA's hardcore fans, the so-called "ultras."
The ban was handed out for “racist behaviour of CSKA supporters during the above-mentioned match,” UEFA said in a website statement.
UEFA also has the power to levy fines for racist behavior by fans, but Wednesday's statement made no mention of any financial sanctions against CSKA. There was no word on any punishment for using fireworks, which UEFA also charged CSKA with after the Man City game.
CSKA has claimed there is no evidence that the racist chanting cited by UEFA took place.
"Having carefully studied a video recording of the match, we did not observe any abuse of a racist nature on the part of the CSKA fans," the team said last week in a statement.
