Lazio fined by UEFA over offensive Celtic banner

Lazio have been fined €60,000 and received a suspended partial stadium ban after their fans held up an offensive banner during the Champions League match with Celtic.

There has been a very tense rapport between the two sets of supporters in recent years, because while Lazio ultras are known to have some extreme right-wing tendencies, Celtic have a similar problem with far-left elements.

Celtic supporters famously held up a banner depicting Fascist wartime leader Benito Mussolini at his death hanging upside down, with the message ‘Follow your leader.’

When Lazio hosted Celtic, who historically represented the Irish and Catholic side of Glasgow, they presented a banner written in crude English.

‘The famine is over. Go home f***ing potato eaters’

This was a reference to the potato famine from 1845-52 that killed approximately a million people and forced more to cross the sea looking for a new life.

UEFA have fined Lazio €25,000 and ordered the partial closure of sectors 48 and 49 of the Curva Nord for the next UEFA match for the “discriminatory behaviour of its supporters.”

This is a suspended closure for two years.

There are also fines of €16,750 for lighting fireworks and €18,125 for throwing objects.