Lazio's Sinisa Mihajlovic was banned for two Champions League matches last night for racially abusing Patrick Vieira. The repercussions of Arsenal's ill-tempered draw in Rome were also felt by Gilles Grimandi, who was suspended for three games for assaulting Diego Simeone.

Grimandi's ban will not hit Arsenal too hard because the first two matches he misses, against Sparta Prague next Wednesday and Shakhtar Donetsk the week after, are relatively meaningless now that Arsenal have qualified for the second group stage.

They will determine nothing other than whether Arsene Wenger's team finish top of their group. Grimandi will also miss the first match of the second group stage.

UEFA said Mihajlovic's ban was the result of "sustained racist insults directed at Arsenal FC players throughout the match". Vieira claimed the Yugoslavia defender had called him a "fucking black monkey" and had started the onslaught before the match when the teams shook hands.

"The Yugoslav player admitted the verbal abuse, alleging he had previously been provoked," UEFA said.

"UEFA's control and disciplinary body considers this to be a serious violation of the sporting principles which UEFA has always defended, especially bearing in mind the grossly humiliating nature of the verbal abuse."

Mihajlovic insisted he had been called a "gypsy" by Vieira, but there was no mention of punishment for the Arsenal midfielder in the sanctions handed out.

Grimandi's ban comes after he struck Simeone off the ball, leaving the Argentine with six stitches in a head wound. His actions were condemned yesterday by Wenger.

"You must always keep control of your behaviour," the manager said. "That's part of your responsibility. I encourage my players always to concentrate on the game. He knows he shouldn't have reacted at all but Simeone is quite well known for provoking people. He is not an angel."

It is the second time in 11 days the Frenchman has been banned for an incident missed by the match officials. Last week he received a one-match suspension for stamping on the hand of Liverpool's Gary McAllister at Highbury.

Grimandi was also sent off against Barcelona in last season's Champions League for elbowing Josep Guardiola. "It's surprising because basically he is a fair player," Wenger said. "But when he is upset he sometimes has an uncontrolled reaction."

Arsenal will not contest the suspension or the £8,300 sterling fine they received for three offences - arriving on the pitch three minutes late before the match, having to be called three times before they emerged from the dressing-room for the second half, and their part in a fight after the final whistle.

Lazio were fined £29,000 after objects were thrown at players and match officials, and for Simeone and Juan Veron's more serious roles in that post-match scuffle with Arsenal players.

UEFA and FIFA have joined forces to try to convince Europe's heads of state that football should have a special place in European law which would prevent the transfer system from being overturned as illegal by the European Commission.

"We call on the EU and national governments to act now and help us safeguard the future well-being of European football," read a statement from UEFA's 51 members, who met a joint FIFA-UEFA task force yesterday.

Football has until October 31st to offer an alternative system to the EC. "We're optimistic," a UEFA spokesman said.