Discipline described the celebration of the Sevilla players as “disrespectful, offensive and ridiculous”

The chronology was as follows: the events occurred on October 6the Heliopolitan complaint to Discipline occurred the next daythe file was opened on October 16 for the instructor Juan Antonio Landaberea to process and On the 31st of the same month, a statement of objections and a proposed resolution were issued. with the punishment of a suspension match for Isaac, Carmona and Juanlu for an infraction contained in article 129 of the RFEF Disciplinary Code. This proposal was immediately communicated to the players and clubs. so that they could make allegations, which is why it was at that moment that Sevilla learned of the punishment, which they only informed about just before having to carry it out, on the morning of December 14, hours before the match against Celta. On November 22, the instructor elevated the file to Discipline for its final resolution, which was completed December 10 and signed by María Josefa García Cirac, president of this committee, where “the considerations presented by the instructor are fully reproduced.”

In its writing, Disciplina makes clear its position of rejection of the actions of the Sevilla players, stating that “it cannot ignore the disciplinary reproach that the conduct of the accused players deserves, making use of a flag that, a priori, says very little from those who can design, manufacture and subsequently acquire this type of products, apologists or allegories of rivalry or confrontation, like the one that, in this case, reached the hands of some of the Sevilla players.

“Certainly, We are faced with conduct contrary to good sporting order which, as the Instructor rightly warns, must be contextualized in its correct coordinates to exclude, first of all, its serious or very serious nature (as the complaining club has been requesting), because Neither the fact in itself nor, in short, the consequences derived from the behavior of the players have that special gravity.», he continues, making it clear that Betis classified the fact in its complaint in a greater way than what Discipline has finally considered. The committee argues that the minimum degree is justified “because the events did not take place during the course of the match, but at the end of the match, for a few seconds and, fortunately, no incidents were triggered, because everything indicates that presumably the flag was not displayed to the rival fans.”

But he is forceful in the adjectives he uses when cataloging these events by Isaac, Juanlu and Carmona in the context of the celebration of the 1-0 victory in the derby against Betis, with a goal from Lukebakio. “There is no doubt that If there is a mocking intention, contempt or disregard for the traditional rival of the same city, due respect and good sporting order being the legal rights protected in article 129 of the Disciplinary Code, within the framework of which the conduct of the players must be subsumed,” says Disciplina, which also responds to Sevilla’s allegations. clearly given that the Nervión club had tried to downplay what happened by framing it in a gesture of rivalry or local grace and showing that there has been no subsequent apology or request for forgivenesssomething that could have mitigated the punishment, as already happened in 2022 when Sevilla reported Guardado’s gestures to the Competition and he did speak out and only received a financial fine for an infringement of the same type: «We are not facing a situation protected by the fundamental right to free expression (which, as is well noted in the proposed resolution, is not unlimited), nor in the face of a mere anecdote or a kind of joke, as the authors of the events intend to show, who They could have celebrated the victory in a thousand and one more respectful, fun and elegant waysinstead of having opted for a disrespectful, offensive celebration and, consequently, an attack on the good sporting order that must govern the actions of all the participants and protagonists before, during and after the matches.

In addition to imposing the one-match ban, already served by the three players in the duel against Celta, Disciplina recalls that accessory fines are added in application of article 52.5 of the Disciplinary Code: 1,050 euros to the club (350 euros for each of the sanctions imposed) and 600 euros to each of the offenders.