BARCELONA have been slapped with a Uefa ban and fine after fans displayed a Nazi-inspired banner during their Champions League opener against Monaco.
Barca suffered a 2-1 defeat during their their first European match of the season last week at Stade Louis II.
The Blaugrana sustained an even bigger blow as some of their travelling supporters unfurled a racist sign that read: “Flick Heil (Hail Flick)”.
That was of course a play on words referring to the infamous “Sieg Heil (Hail victory)” statement used by the Nazis during Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship in Germany.
And those yobs seemed to be addressing that sickening banner towards Barcelona’s German manager Hansi Flick.
The sign managed to get through security but was swiftly removed after being spotted and reported to Uefa.
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The incident caught the attention of Uefa’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) who who issued swift penalties.
As a result, the Catalan giants have been fined €10,000 (£8,332) and prevented from selling tickets for their away game against Red Star Belgrade on November 6.
UEFA has also issued the LaLiga outfit a one-year suspended ban, which will be triggered in the event of any further breaches within the next 12 months.
This comes after Barcelona were handed a suspended ban following racist behaviour by their fans during a Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain in April.
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Barca fans caused damage and let off fireworks inside the Parc des Princes five months ago, which led to a €32,000 fine (£26,673) and a suspended ban on selling away tickets.
The CEDB cited Article 14 of the UEFA disciplinary regulations reads: “Any entity or person subject to these regulations who insults the human dignity of a person or group of persons on whatever grounds, including skin colour, race, religion, ethnic origin, gender or sexual orientation, incurs a suspension lasting at least ten matches or a specified period of time, or any other appropriate sanction.”
Barcelona had even more problems on the pitch against Monaco as they lost Eric Garcia to a straight red card just ten minutes after kick-off.
Maghnes Akliouche opened the scoring for the hosts just six minutes later before Lamine Yamal’s equaliser on 28 minutes.
But Adi Hutter’s side completed a famous victory against Barcelona in the 71st minute with George Ilenikhena’s winner.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
