Atletico apologise for ugly Puerta chants
Reuters - Tuesday 04 October 2011, 08:33
MADRID - Atletico Madrid have apologised to
the family of Antonio Puerta after fans chanted offensive
slogans about the deceased Sevilla midfielder during a La Liga
game between the two Spanish clubs.
Puerta died in August 2007, three days after collapsing
during a match against Getafe. Atletico fans chanted "Oh, oh,
oh, Puerta's feeling dizzy" on Sunday at the Calderon, prompting
a strongly worded statement from the Madrid club.
"Atletico Madrid profoundly regrets the chants directed
against... Antonio Puerta," the club said on their website.
"Our club expresses its deep revulsion at such chants and
apologises to the famiy of the deceased footballer, to Sevilla
and to football in general," the statement added.
"We support respect in football and we hope that these
actions are not repeated either in our stadium or at any other
field."
The chants at the Calderon came on the same weekend fans of
Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur forced the English Premier League
clubs to put their bitter rivalry aside to condemn offensive
chants from both sets of supporters.