Esperance ordered to play behind closed doors
Reuters - Wednesday 12 January 2011, 09:23
CAIRO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Tunisian club Esperance
must play their next two African Champions
League matches behind close doors after their conduct in last
year's final, the Confederation of African Football announced.
Midfielder Aymen Ben Amour was banned for six games and
Esperance fined a combined US$52 000 for a variety of
incidents, including throwing bottles at the VIP tribune,
during the second leg of the final on November 13.
The game ended in a 1-1 draw but the temperature had been
ratcheted up before the game by Esperance's claims they were
cheated in the first leg, which Mazembe won by a
record-equaling 5-0 score line in Lubumbashi a week earlier.
Ben Amour's ban came after being sent off in the second
leg of the final for spitting on an opponent.
The disciplinary action comes after persistent incidents
of violence and crowd misbehaviour in recent Champions League
finals.