Sport

Zenit may be punished by Uefa over fans

RANGERS AND Zenit St Petersburg are unlikely to face any punishment over the events that led to the stabbing of a Russian fan…

Fri May 16 2008 - 01:00

RANGERS AND Zenit St Petersburg are unlikely to face any punishment over the events that led to the stabbing of a Russian fan at Wednesday's Uefa Cup final in Manchester, a top Uefa official said.

But the Russian club may face sanctions over their fans running on to the pitch during and after their 2-0 victory over the Scottish side at the City of Manchester Stadium, Uefa's director of communications William Gaillard said yesterday.

"This was a small group of individuals for which the clubs and the majority of fans which behaved very well cannot be punished nor held accountable for," he said. "But clubs are responsible for the behaviour of their fans inside the stadium, so yes, we could take action over the pitch encroachments if we find any blame with the club."

Five Rangers supporters were arrested and later released without charge by police after a Russian fan was stabbed in the back, while 42 fans were arrested and 15 police officers injured after trouble flared in the city centre.

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Police said the majority of the more than 100,000 Rangers fans who descended on the city without tickets were well behaved but said they were sickened by the troublemakers.

"There was a group of 200-plus who chased six officers up a road. They managed to trip one of them and they jumped on them like a pack of baying wolves," Greater Manchester Police assistant chief constable Justine Curran told a news conference.

"It was quite sickening to see."

Rangers head of security, Kenny Scott, said: "Many of these people will have no association with Rangers and that exacerbates our difficulty in dealing with what happened.

"If there were 120,000 fans in the city centre then 200 or so let down this club."

Despite the violence, Uefa does not expect similar scenes at next week's Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea in Moscow. "We expect a great final in a great atmosphere. We expect a warm welcome from the Russian people in a safe and secure environment."

Gaillard said they would not be making any extra security arrangements, but said the issue of violence, notably caused by ticketing problems, may require a "revolutionary rethink".