CSKA Moscow face UEFA charge over flare on field during Champions League
MOSCOW -- Russia's CSKA Moscow face disciplinary charges after a flare was thrown onto the pitch during a Champions League game against Sporting Lisbon, UEFA said Thursday.
After CSKA's Ivorian striker Seydou Doumbia scored to level the game at 1-1 on Wednesday, a flare was shot from a stand occupied by CSKA's hardcore support and landed on the pitch a few meters away from the celebrating Doumbia. Further flares were fired into the sky later in the game. CSKA won 3-1 to qualify for the Champions League group stage.
UEFA said in an e-mailed statement that CSKA have been charged with the use of fireworks as well as the throwing of objects by fans and a safety offense related to blocked stairways.
''Some clever guys used pyrotechnics,'' CSKA's general director Roman Babaev told Russia's Tass agency. ''Now the club is actively investigating this incident. I think we'll manage to find these saboteurs with the help of video cameras and law enforcement.''
CSKA's general director Roman Babaev said he expects a fine over the charges and does not expect them to trigger a suspended one-game stadium ban levied on CSKA last season after racism offenses.
''That's related to similar cases of discrimination and racist incidents, so if you apply the letter of the law, the most serious sanctions shouldn't follow from this,'' Babaev said.
CSKA have been punished repeatedly by UEFA over racism and fan violence offenses at Champions League games in recent seasons. The club, Russian champion in 2013 and 2014, played all of their Champions League home group stage games in an empty stadium last season under UEFA sanctions.
