Barcelona have been slammed with a Champions League ban following unruly behavior by the fans, MySportDab reports.
The La Liga giants entered UEFA black books for an unacceptable reaction by their fans during their 2024-25 UEFA Champions League opener against Monaco in France.
Furious fans reportedly mouthed racial slurs at Monaco players after the club lost the fixture 2-1 to the Ligue 1 giants.
According to The BBC, UEFA have now banned the fans from attending the club’s Champions League away match due to the incident.
The report further reveals the ban will only be enforced in only one of Barcelona’s eight league phase fixtures in the competition.
Specifically, it will be enforced in the team’s clash against Red Star Belgrade on November 6, 2024. That will be the club’s fourth Champions League match with two fixtures padded in between the clash.
Before the match, Barcelona will host Young Boys in Spain for their second Champions League on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, before traveling to Germany to lock horns with Bayern Munich.
And then the trip to Red Star Belgrade followed which the away fans will not be allowed to attend.
To ensure compliance to the punishment, the club has reportedly been instructed to freeze all their away tickets for the Red Star Belgrade match.
In addition to the ban, they have also been slammed with a fine of €10,000.
MySportDab understands it is the second time Barcelona have come under the radar of UEFA for allegations of racial abuse by fans.
A similar incident occurred during the club’s Champions League quarterfinal match against another Ligue 1 opponent – PSG – last season. This also led to stadium ban penalty for the fans, including arrests.
However, the stadium ban was suspended for one year with the club set to serve that sentence later in the ongoing 2024-25 Champions League campaign.
Barcelona will return to UEFA Champions League action against Young Boys next week and will hope to return to winning ways after the 2-1 defeat to Monaco at St Louis III in the opening match.
