Atletico urge fans to behave

Spanish club respond to Uefa announcement

Last updated: 16th October 2008  

Atletico urge fans to behave

Vicente Calderon

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Atletico Madrid have urged their supporters to behave during the Champions League clash against Liverpool after Uefa confirmed the game will go ahead at Vicente Calderon.

The European governing body announced on Thursday it has temporarily lifted Atletico's two-game UEFA Champions League ban at their home stadium.

The Spanish club were penalised for crowd trouble which marred their European fixture versus Marseille at the beginning of October, and were suspended from playing their next two games at home.

But, now that the decision has been reconsidered, next Wednesday's match will go ahead and Atletico have asked their fans to respect their opponents next week, with Uefa expected to closely scrutinise the encounter.

Maximum respect

A statement read: "Club Atletico de Madrid, after receiving the official notification of the provisional suspension granted by the Uefa Board of Appeals requested by the club, would like to state their approval with the decision adopted by this body, by virtue of which the Champions League match between Atletico de Madrid and Liverpool will be played at Estadio Vicente Calderon and their manager, Javier Aguirre, will be able to sit on the bench.

"Regardless of the provisional suspension conceded, the club will continue to fight the charges with the goal of completely clearing up everything that occurred and proving their innocence, along with proving the absence of the organisation's responsibility with respect to what they have been accused of.

"Furthermore, the club would like to ask its fans to show the maximum respect towards the decision adopted by Uefa and to continue to display the good sportsmanship and fair play that they have been demonstrating at all matches to date, considering the importance lent to supporters' behaviour for the positive development of a football match."