UEFA bans Roma for one home match after brawl

AS Roma have been banned from playing their next European club match at home after failing to prevent a mass brawl following their Champions League game against Galatasaray last week, UEFA said on Friday.

The Italian champions, who will have to play their next European home match at least 300 kilometres from the Olympic stadium, were fined 200,000 Swiss francs ($120,300), with Turkish super league club Galatasaray fined 40,000 francs.

Roma coach Fabio Capello was given a one-game touchline ban, while their Argentina striker Gabriel Batistuta was suspended for one game and both captain Francesco Totti and Brazilian midfielder Francisco Lima were banned for three matches.

But Roma president Franco Sensi said he would appeal against the decision.

"We will certainly appeal once we have examined the documentation with our lawyers," Sensi told Italian media.

"The worst thing is not so much the bans for the players, because I am sure we can get them reduced by an appeal, but it is the ban from the Olympic stadium".

Roma also issued a statement saying their appeal would be made in the "coming hours and in the terms set out by UEFA".

All the suspensions apply to European games only. Any appeal against the decisions must be made by March 25.

MASS BRAWL

The punishments were handed down by UEFA after the mass brawl involving players, officials and riot police at the end of the group B match in Rome on March 13 that ended in a 1-1 draw. Neither team qualified for the quarter-finals.

A UEFA statement said its disciplinary committee took the decisions based on the fact that Roma "showed a lack of action at halftime despite being made aware of the tension between the two teams on the pitch throughout the first half.

"Also the home club did not act to prevent any possible incident until it was too late. There was a lack of organisation and security measures, particularly at the end of the match.

Scuffling players and team officials were separated by riot police at the end of the game before being shepherded into the dressing rooms under a hail of objects thrown from the crowd. Thirteen police were injured during the brawl.

But UEFA were critical of the policing of the match.

"A lack of control by the state police was evident particularly through their excessive interventions. In addition, the interventions made by the private security officials, controlled by the home club, were deemed inappropriate," the ruling body said.

TREATED FAIRLY

Galatasaray foreign affairs spokesman Mete Razlikli welcomed the ruling, saying it showed that when the Turkish team was in the right it would be treated fairly.

"The UEFA decision is absolutely in line," he said on NTV television.

He added that the brawl had been exacerbated by the action of the Italian police, who he said had acted like Roma fans.

"If the police hadn't entered unnecessarily into the affair, then maybe there wouldn't have been fighting on this level. They weren't acting like police. They should have just put on Roma uniforms, then we would have understood what was going on."

But Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Franco Carraro was critical of the decision.

Carraro said the UEFA verdict would "provoke perplexity in all those who watched the game either at the stadium or on television".

The brawl sparked a diplomatic row between Italy and Turkey last week, with Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem accusing Italian police of using pitiless brutality against Galatasaray players and adding that their behaviour recalled Fascist Italy.

TURKISH INSULTS

The fighting began when Lima, who used to play in Turkey, took offence at insults in Turkish about him and his parents and became caught up in a scuffle with Galatasaray players.

Capello and Roma forward Vincenzo Montella pulled Lima away from the trouble, but the mass brawl continued.

Eventually about 40 police lined up to form a tunnel to escort the players off.

After the match Capello, who eventually helped usher Lima into the dressing room area, said he feared for his players.

But while the Roma team escaped to the dressing rooms, the Galatasaray players had to wait on the pitch for another 10 minutes until police restored order before avoiding a hail of bottles and coins as they retreated down the steps.

Galatasaray coach Mircea Lucescu believed the Italian police had incited his players.

"One of my players tried to go through the police cordon and was pushed by the police," he said.

The UEFA committee considered evidence from match officials, video recordings, club statements and a state police report.