Friday, December 12, 2008

Marseille hit with fine by Uefa

Share


Marseille have been fined £8,936 by Uefa after their fans threw missiles at Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard in a Champions League tie at Anfield.

Gerrard was waiting to take a corner in Liverpool's 1-0 win on 26 November when he was struck by an object - believed to be a cigarette lighter.

The fine was imposed after a Uefa disclinary hearing in Nyon.

It followed a similar incident when the two teams met in September, which resulted in a £12,644 for Marseille.

Marseille had already been charged with failing to control spectators after missiles were thrown from the stands in the match at the Velodrome, which Liverpool won 2-1.

In the latest incident Gerrard was unhurt and was praised by Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez for not retaliating.

"He is a good professional. Steven did well not to react," said Benitez after the match.

The Reds boss added: "It is good that Uefa have acted. But the problem is that it is just one person out of thousands who decides to do something like that, so how can you control it? It is not easy to stop these things.

"It is difficult to control everyone, if someone wants to do something like this then it is hard to stop.

"You can fine the club and look for solutions afterwards, but you cannot control everything."

Gerrard headed the winner - his 30th European goal and fifth in this season's competition - in the first half to send his team through to the final 16 of the Champions League.

Earlier this season, Chelsea striker Didier Drogba was given a three-match domestic ban by the Football Association for throwing a coin back into the crowd when the Premier League leaders lost in the Carling Cup to Burnley.

0 Comments:

World Of Currencies | Formula One RAcing