UEFA response to Spain declarations

"Following the declarations by Mr José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, President of the Spanish government, UEFA wishes to clarify as follows: The Spanish minister of foreign affairs, Mr Miguel Ángel Moratinos, indeed called the UEFA President, Michel Platini, yesterday evening on behalf of Mr Zapatero, to ask him to reconsider the sanctions taken in relation to the match between Club Atlético de Madrid and Olympique de Marseille on 1 October. During this brief conversation, President Platini reminded Mr Moratinos of the two following things:

"The letter sent by Mr Platini to Mr Zapatero was a personal letter sent on 6 October, that is to say, one week before the decision of the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body, and which had no direct relation to the match in question. It was a matter of alerting Mr Zapatero with regard to the general management of European competition matches in Spain. Contrary to what may have been said, this letter was therefore not sent following the sanctions taken against Club Atlético de Madrid. There has been no response to this letter to date.

"The UEFA disciplinary bodies are independent bodies. Consequently, it is obvious that the UEFA President cannot intervene in disciplinary matters, either in the first instance or in appeal proceedings. This independence of the disciplinary bodies was made clear to Mr Moratinos during this telephone conversation.

"UEFA also wishes to point out that the consequence of the appeal formulated by Club Atlético de Madrid was that the sanctions have been suspended, but on no account have they been lifted. A decision will be taken on 31 October by the UEFA Appeals Body [see the UEFA press release issued today]. The match between Club Atlético de Madrid and Liverpool FC, which will be played on 22 October at the Vicente Calderón Stadium in Madrid, will be monitored with the greatest attention. UEFA's policy with regard to violence and racism in the stadiums remains a policy of zero tolerance."