Misfortunes never come alone. To the elimination of Barcelona in the Europa League after the game of shame as the Camp Nou was taken over by the German fans and Pedri’s injury for the rest of the season the more than sure joins sanction that UEFA will impose on the Catalan entity by the display of flares from the Eintracht fans and the excess of German fans outside the security zone delimited by UEFA. The 3.5 million euros that Barça collected at the box office in that game may be substantially reduced.
While the sanctions are awaited, the Barcelona board has begun to take the bull by the horns and, in parallel with the internal investigation that has been started to find an explanation that justifies Thursday’s embarrassment, they are going to implement measures so that this cannot happen again.
Measures that may be late in the case of next Friday’s matchThe first leg of the semifinals of the Women’s Champions League between Barça and Wolfsburg. Among Barcelona fans there is the fear that, to a lesser extent, a Camp Nou with a huge rival presence could be repeated.
Let’s start with the sanctions. Article 16 of the UEFA Disciplinary Code specifies that “Host teams are responsible for order and security both inside and around the stadium before, during and after the match. They are responsible for incidents unless they prove that there has been no negligence in the organization of the match.” In the absence of the report of the UEFA security coordinator, it seems clear that Barcelona can be sanctioned for having massively mixed fans of one team and another. In fact, the testimonies regarding fights and uncivil behavior that could endanger the safety of the attendees are multiplying exponentially. It seems likely that a stand at the Camp Nou will be closed as sanctionedn.
flares. If Barça can defend itself from the previous point, what no one can avoid is the fine for the entry of flares in the visiting fans’ area. As much as Eintracht were the ones who strained the pyrotechnics, the responsibility falls on the owner of the stadium for failing to properly control access to prohibited material. That said, even in this case Eintracht would not be spared the fine. If UEFA can charge twice, do not miss the opportunity
The remedy that Barcelona proposes to prevent a case like this from repeating itself can also bring controversy. Joan Laporta spoke in a statement to TV3 about the need that in the future“the tickets will be nominative in the international competitions that Barça plays at the Camp Nou”.
Meanwhile, the testimony given to various Spanish and German media by German supporters who attended the match makes it clear how these entries were achieved: up to 15 on the Barça website with non-German cards, agencies such as ‘P1travel’ or VPN filters.