UEFA announced this Friday that it is sanctioning Leonardo Nascimento de Araújo, sports director of Paris Saint-Germain, with one match until May 22, for violating disciplinary rules and sportsmanship in the second leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League played on March 9 at the Santiago Bernabéu (3-1 for Real Madrid).
The decision, taken on June 7 and 8 by the Disciplinary Committee of the governing body of European football, was released ten days later in a
dossier
published on the UEFA disciplinary records portal.
After the round of 16 match, in which PSG was eliminated in the first big comeback of the year in Chamartín, Leonardo and the president of the Parisian club, Nasser Al Khelaifi, stormed down to the referees' locker room to convey their complaints, according to sources from the Real Madrid.
Upon verifying that an employee of the white club was recording the scene, the Qatari president tried to attack him, shouting "I'm going to kill you!"
The security personnel of the Parisian delegation ended up taking the president to the PSG locker room, while Leonardo was left screaming to erase the images.
The referee of the match, the Dutchman Dannie Makkelie, included the following comment in the minutes of the match, referring to Leonardo and Al Khelaifi: “They showed aggressive behavior and tried to enter the referees' locker room.
Even after the referee asked them to leave, they blocked the door and the president deliberately hit the flag of one of the attendees, breaking it."
Far from satisfying Leonardo's fiery demands, Real Madrid kept the footage to send it to UEFA and denounce the facts.
The investigation, opened on March 10, one day after the match, has taken more than three months to reach an outcome: a match ban for the Brazilian and impunity for Nasser Al Khelaifi, who, in addition to being PSG's top manager, is member of the executive committee of UEFA and president of the Association of European Clubs (ECA).
The Barça, also fined
FC Barcelona has also been sanctioned by UEFA according to the document published this Friday.
In his case, the punishment is economic: 10,000 euros.
The reason, the "unsportsmanlike conduct" of the Barça club in the final of the Women's Champions League that pitted the Catalans against Olympique de Lyon on May 21 in Turin (1-3 for the French).
Scottish Rangers have also been fined around 8,000 euros for the behavior of their fans – throwing objects and projecting fireworks – in the second leg of the Europa League semi-finals played in Glasgow on May 5 against Leipzig .
The rest of UEFA's punishments are spread over eight games played in the U-17 European Championship played in Israel, the U-19 Women's European Championship played in the Czech Republic and in qualifying matches for the 2023 Women's European Futsal Championship.
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