LAZIO have confirmed the only reason they didn’t get a full stadium closure is the reaction of the Lazio board after the charge for racial behaviour.
The club got a suspended full stadium ban and a partial closure of their own north curve when Celtic come to town but it could have been worse had the club not come out and condemned the behaviour with zero tolerance.
Lazio have promised to deal with any supporters found guilty of the charge.
Their statement a little troubling towards the end when they say they respect their supporters rights for their ‘political views’ but they just don’t want them to vent them inside the stadium where the club can be punished. That’s the wrong message.
Posted on the RecordSport website, here was the statement in full:
“Unfortunately, the behavior of very few fans – we believe it was around 20 – risks our progress in the Europa League.
“Because of this, we are forced to play Celtic in our own stadium without the support of the Curva Nord.
“Furthermore, if this behaviour continues at our future matches in Europe, we are at serious risk of the entire stadium being closed.
“We only escaped a full ban this time because our president’s insistence on zero tolerance in the future.
“We respect our supporters’ rights to have political opinions, but it makes no sense to express these in stadiums home or away, especially when it is known that UEFA are monitoring us.
“I appeal for it not to happen again in our future games because it damages Lazio.”
Celtic take on Lazio on Thursday in the Europa League with the reverse fixture taking place two weeks later in Rome. There will be a sizeable number of supporters coming over from Glasgow for the away day with Lazio handing Celtic a sizeable amount of briefs.
