Legia Warsaw’s unhappy Uefa Champions League campaign suffered another blow on Thursday when they were ordered to host their dream tie against Real Madrid in an empty stadium.
Uefa’s disciplinary committee said it had ordered the Polish champions to play their next home game behind closed doors following crowd trouble during their 6-0 home defeat by Borussia Dortmund earlier this month.
Uefa said Legia had been charged with crowd disturbances, setting off of fireworks, throwing objects, poor organisation, racist behaviour and blocked stairways during the Group F match against the Bundesliga side.
The club, who denied the racism charges and said they would appeal, were also fined 80,000 euros (Dh330,000).
Legia have lost their first two games, failed to score and conceded eight goals on their return to Champions League group stage after a 21-year absence.
They visit Real Madrid on October 18 then host the defending champions in their next home match on November 2.
Legia have a long history of fines and stadium bans because of their fans’ violent and racist behaviour. Last year, they played a Europa League game against Ajax behind closed doors after being sanctioned for their supporters’ racist behaviour.
In 2007, they were thrown out of the Intertoto Cup following crowd trouble and Uefa handed them a one-year suspended ban from European competitions.
* Reuters
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