2023-06-29 12:49:39
Espanyol will have to play its first two home games behind closed doors in the return of the parakeet club to Segunda, after the investigating judge has proposed to the Competition Committee the closure of the Cornellà stadium due to the invasion of the field carried out by its ultras to the conclusion of the league derby against Barça held on May 14.
In this way, the duels against Racing de Santander, corresponding to the second day of the championship and scheduled for the weekend of August 20, and against Amorebieta, belonging to the fourth day and scheduled for the weekend of August 3 September, they will be played without an audience at the Stage Front, the new commercial name of the venue previously known as RCDE Stadium.
The sanction is known a month and a half after the unfortunate episode carried out by a hundred ultras from Espanyol who broke into the Cornellà pitch with the purpose of interrupting the celebrations that the Barça footballers were carrying out at that moment after the group culé was proclaimed champion of the League mathematically after beating the parakeet team 2-4 on matchday 34 of the last League.
As soon as the referee whistled the end of the game, the Barça players gave way to the traditional celebrations for being League champions. Hugs, songs and a large circle in the center of the field. It was there when hundreds of ultras from Espanyol took to the grass for the celebration to end and there were moments of great tension.
When the Barça players realized the mob that was forming around them, they ran to the changing rooms. The Police formed a human shield to prevent the ultras from accessing the Barcelona locker room while it had to be the private security of Espanyol who tried to contain the violent on the pitch. With the integrity of the footballers guaranteed, the security forces were able to clear the field, while the public address system repeatedly asked that all people leave the field of play.
A “disproportionate” criterion
The embarrassing episode, which went around the world, presaged an exemplary sanction that Espanyol, however, considers “disproportionate and unfair”, for which reason it will exhaust all possible avenues to appeal it, as the Catalan entity has advanced in a statement.
«RCD Espanyol wants to show its total disagreement with the, in our opinion, disproportionate and unfair sanction imposed by the Competition Committee on the club that would mean the closure of the Stage Front Stadium for two games as a result of the events that occurred at the end of the last derby and we will resort to the sanction in all possible instances”, points out the club, which recalls that “it has always spoken out against any violent act or behavior that could tarnish” the image of the entity and its fans, but alleges that ” He had all the necessary means and measures available” to guarantee the proper course of the derby, “collaborating from minute one in everything required by the authorities and with the security forces themselves.
In the opinion of Espanyol, the sanction of the Competition Committee applies “a disproportionate criterion and inconsistent with other cases” that affects the entire club and the subscribers of all sectors of its stadium, with an “exemplary aggravating factor” that, the entity considers , lacks legal foundation or tangible support beyond biased value judgments«.
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