SOCCER:THE BITTER off-field feud that has accompanied the Champions League semi-final between Barcelona and Real Madrid took another twist last night when Jose Mourinho's assistant coach, Aitor Karanka, hit out at Uefa for overlooking the racist abuse allegedly directed at the Real Madrid fullback Marcelo by Sergio Busquets.
Karanka claimed that tonight’s semi-final second leg was of only “secondary importance” in the face of Uefa’s failure to act to defend fair play and the abandonment of ethics in the sport.
“There will be a player on the pitch who racially abused another player,” the Madrid assistant coach said, “while others who have done nothing wrong won’t be there.”
Karanka’s comments come in the light of a video released by Real Madrid yesterday that they claim shows Busquets calling Marcelo a “monkey”.
They also came hours after Uefa announced that it had rejected the formal complaint made by Real Madrid against eight Barcelona players for “persistent and premeditated unsporting behaviour”. Uefa likewise resolved not to act on the complaints made by Barcelona against Mourinho, saying that European football’s governing body would be the “sole judge”.
Uefa’s statement made no specific mention of the alleged racist abuse but Madrid’s assistant coach brought the issue to the fore after Real’s release of the footage.
In a piece about the referee, Frank de Bleeckere on Madrid’s website and the Spanish version of their TV channel, the voiceover expressed a desire that the official would not fall into Barcelona’s trap and that there would be no “disrespect” from the players.
The comment came over a shot of Busquets cupping his hand to hide his words and saying something to Marcelo. Real’s subtitles showed “mono, mono” - “monkey, monkey”.
Barcelona were not officially responding to the racism claims last night but they have privately dismissed the allegation as it cannot be definitively proved that Busquets made the remark while Uefa did not respond to calls.
However, Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola, did respond to the wider issue of the complaints between the two clubs. “If they have complained, it is because they think what they have complained about but that doesn’t make it right. Of course we make mistakes on the pitch but we try to act in the best way. Our players are an example.”
But Karanka thinks otherwise: “This (Uefa) is an organisation that has T-shirts and messages talking about fair play and respect and we have seen the images which have been round the world, including a player making racist insults and covering his mouth to try to make it so that you can’t see it. But he will be on the pitch, along with others. Other players who have done nothing wrong won’t be.”
GuardianService
