Manchester United and Paris Saint Germain have been charged by UEFA following the two clubs clash during Tuesday night Champions League encounter. UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Manchester United after a beer bottle was thrown at Paris St Germain winger Angel Di Maria. PSG were also charged, after their fans did acts like throwing objects, setting off fireworks, acts of damage and crowd disturbance. It has been reported that a bottle of water was also thrown from the stands which dropped at Luke Shaw’s feet.
PSG won the game by a scoreline of 2-0, with Di Maria setting up goals for Presnel Kimpembe and Kylian Mbappe, before United’s Paul Pogba was sent off late on. It was a rough game with each side receiving 4 yellow cards and Pogba being on the receiving end of a silly red card before the end of the match. Whether the Frenchman deserved that card or not was a mystery in itself, though there are more bigger issues now.
It was the first visit for Argentine winger, Di Maria after he left the Red Devils after the end of 2015 season. Di Maria was jeered by the home supporters’ right from the start of the match, having endured an underwhelming spell at the club in the 2014-15 season. Right before the goals, Di Maria was thrown a bottle of beer near the Stretford End corner flag which he sarcastically appeared to take a sip before throwing it away towards the fans.
UEFA said their Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body will open the case on February 28. Both set of fans have been charged with acts of violence and indiscipline. United were charged for the blocking of stairways going against the safety and security regulations of European football’s governing body at the stadium; whereas PSG fans have been hit with four different counts. Video footages show PSG fans chanting and waving lit flares in the city centre ahead of the game causing crowd disturbance as well as fans letting fireworks off near to the ground before the kick-off.
The second leg of the Round of 16 tie is on 6th March. The Parsian outfit had one end of their Parc des Princes stadium closed for their 6-1 win over Red Star Belgrade, back in the group stages in October last year, as punishment. Fans had lit flares during their defeat at home to Real Madrid in the competition last season and they were charged for the same. The Red Devils will resume action on Monday when they face Chelsea at FA Cup fifth round while PSG resume their Ligue 1 duties on Sunday against St. Etienne.
The Manchester based side face off against Maurizio Sarri’s side in the fifth round of the FA Cup and will want to push through to the next round. They have a lot of tough fixtures coming up this month and will want to make the most out of these, getting the best possible results. Hopefully, things work out well for them, as they look to win some titles under interim boss Solskjaer, who will be himself keen to make his job permanent at The Theatre of Dreams.
