Spanish government defends Atletico over UEFA ban

The highest levels of the Spanish government Wednesday came out in support of Atletico Madrid, penalised by UEFA for crowd trouble and racist insults by their supporters in a match against Marseille.

The Spanish media also slammed the decision, blaming the Marseille supporters for the incidents and suggesting that France's UEFA president Michel Platini may not be impartial in the matter.

Marseille lodged an official complaint with European football's ruling body after several of their players were targeted by Atletico fans during their Champions League match in Madrid on October 1.

It alleged monkey chants were aimed at the French club's players, while the Marseille team bus was attacked after the match.

Atletico were also charged with “a lack of organisation” at the match, which led to “crowd incidents.”

UEFA ruled Tuesday that Atletico must play its next two European matches, the first of which will be against Liverpool on October 22, at a stadium at least 300 kilometres (200 miles) away from Madrid.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he backed the club. Asked by journalists if he is with Atletico on the matter, he said: “Yes, with Atletico and the police.”

The prime minister will confirm its backing for the club in a reply to a letter he has received from Platini, his office said.

Industry Minister Miguel Sebastien said Atletico were the victims of an “extremely unjust attack.”

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba on Tuesday also defended the actions of the police at the match, and on Wednesday sent videos of the incidents to UEFA.

Several Spanish newspapers released photo images from the video showing Marseille supporters throwing chairs at Spanish police, whom it said had reacted “correctly.”

The newspaper Marca also charged Platini had acted “with premeditation” against Atletico, and alleged a “campaign” against Spain following its recent sporting successes, such as winning Euro 2008.

In a statement late Tuesday, the club slammed the sanctions as “completely unfair and disproportionate” and said it would appeal the decison.

“At no time were insults of racist or xenophobic character directed at any Olympique Marseille player, as supported by the video of the match and in the record given by the UEFA delegate himself.”

It said the so-called monkey chants may in fact have been merely Atletico supporters shouting “Kun, Kun, Kun” to encourage one of their players, Sergio 'Kun' Aguero.

With regard to the crowd incidents, it said police had tried to remove a prohibited banner from Marseille supporters, who had reacted violently.

Atletico have also been fined 150,000 euros and their coach, Javier Aguirre, has been banned for both matches with Liverpool for insulting a Marseille player.

Atletico won the Marseille match 2-1. Liverpool and Atletico are joint leaders in Group D of the Champions League having both won their opening two matches.

Liverpool, whose star striker Fernando Torres had been looking forward to returning to his old Atletico stamping ground, have also complained that UEFA's decision to move the match will unfairly penalise their travelling fans.

“To change the venue of the game at such a late stage would cause massive problems to our fans, and that is not fair,” said Liverpool's Spanish manager Rafael Benitez.