UEFA charges Celtic after fan runs onto pitch & aims kick at PSG striker
UEFA has charged Celtic FC after one of its supporters entered the field of play and aimed a kick at Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe during a Champions League match between the two sides.
Late in the first half of the match, which PSG won 5-0, the fan ran onto the Celtic Park pitch and aimed a kick at 18-year-old striker Mbappe, ultimately missing his intended target.
Mbappe, who joined on loan from Ligue 1 rivals Monaco this summer and grabbed the second goal of the game, seemed unfazed by the attempted strike.
Police Scotland said a 21-year-old man was charged with pitch incursion and assault, and was taken into custody. His was one of a total seven arrests were made at the match on Tuesday.
UEFA also charged PSG after traveling fans damaged seats in the away section of the ground and the cases will be dealt with by UEFA’s control, ethics and disciplinary body on 19 October.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers expressed his approval of his team’s fans booing the pitch invader.
“I think their reaction said it all. It was disappointing at any ground, at any club, a supporter getting on the pitch like that,” he said, BBC Sport reported.
“It was bitterly disappointing and I am sure the club will deal with whoever that supporter was. It shouldn't be anything that we should see. I think the stewards dealt with it at the time and I am sure the club will deal with it.”
In January, UEFA fined the Scottish club £8,619 ($10,700) for the fans' display which called for support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, during a Champions League match versus Hapoel Be'er Sheva.
More recently, UEFA charged Legia Warsaw after its fans produced a banner of a Nazi holding a gun to a child’s head at a Champions League qualifier on Wednesday to commemorate the Warsaw Uprising.
Tuesday’s match was part of the first round of UEFA Champions League group matches, which also saw Russian side CSKA Moscow overcome Portuguese side Benfica 1-2 in Lisbon.
