Real Madrid’s appeal to UEFA after being fined for abusive chants towards Pep Guardiola during their Round of 16 Champions League match against Manchester City has been rejected.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport found that UEFA’s fine and partial stadium closure, imposed after last season’s second leg at the Bernabeu, was justified.
According to the report on CAS’s judgement, some supporters made discriminatory remarks towards Guardiola during Real Madrid’s 3-1 triumph over Manchester City, and that they were considered to be “of a severe discriminatory nature” and too extreme for football to fall under banter or satire.
UEFA argued throughout the proceedings that discriminatory abuse is “having a serious negative impact on football and called on clubs to do more in dealing with similar behavior inside stadiums.
Real Madrid’s legal team argued against the evidence provided in the case, including the video footage from Fare Network, the anti-discrimination body, and stated that visiting fans could have made the chants instead of home supporters.
However, the CAS fully backed UEFA’s verdict.
The appeal was made amid ongoing issues between Real Madrid and UEFA, after the fallout from the aborted European Super League, although the club allegedly settled a number of separate disputes with the governing body earlier this year.
Before their meeting with City earlier in this season’s Champions League, the club had talks with fan groups to prevent further issues with Guardiola.
