Sevilla will be forced to shut down two sections of their stadium after losing their appeals against the measure. The incident pertains to ‘songs and insults’ back in 2017, during a Copa del Rey match against Real Madrid.
Sergio Ramos was a favourite son of Sevilla when he came through as a young player, but since moving to Real Madrid, relations gradually soured. They reached a peak in the 2017 Copa del Rey tie, which finished 3-3, and 6-3 on aggregate to Los Blancos. With Real Madrid coming from 3-1 behind, Ramos scored a late penalty to level things up, at which point he went to the Sevilla fans and cupped his ears.
At which point a cavalcade of insults flowed down upon him from the stands. Sevilla initially tried to take action for Ramos‘ gestures, but those measures were ignored, before the found themselves fighting their own punishment.
The club released a statement (carried by Diario AS), confirming that the N1 and N12 sections of the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan would be closed against Celta Vigo, after accepting their punishment a remarkable six years later.
Given some of the racist abuse that has happened of late, it seems strange that this should carry such a harsh punishment, affecting many members, while racism is viewed as an individual crime. Taking into account the absue suffered by Vinicius Junior this season, he is well within his rights to ask for further action seeing the precedent set.
