Real facing a ban over Nazi salutes

UEFA could make Real Madrid play behind closed doors - or even throw them out of the Champions League - following more racist chanting at the Bernabeu.

A week after appalling crowd behaviour in the same stadium during England's friendly international against Spain, Real's followers made Nazi salutes and abused Bayer Leverkusen's black defender Roque Junior during last night's 1-1 draw.

UEFA, the game's European governing body, will receive a report in the next 48 hours from officials at the stadium and the match referee before issuing any sanctions. The Spanish giants could be ejected from the tournament, but are more likely to be fined or forced to play their home games behind closed doors or at a different location.

UEFA spokesman William Gaillard said: "The punishment will depend on the gravity of the matter - whether it was the whole stadium or whether it was a small group of people. It could range from banning the stadium and making the team play away or behind closed doors, to even the exclusion of the team.

"For an issue of violence recently, Roma had two games away from their stadium. The Slovakia team were made to play one game at a different location after racist chanting against England a couple of years ago.

"Fines were issued last week for incidents in the Sparta Prague and Seville games. We will see what is in the report from Madrid."

World governing body FIFA are investigating monkey chants directed at black players during England's friendly last week and UEFA can take into account previous instances of abuse when they impose sanctions on a club.

"There is no standard punishment for a particular type of offence," Gaillard added.

"The referees' report and the match delegate's report will be lodged 48 hours after the match.

"If there is any report of racist chanting then it will be referred to the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body. What is important for us is that it is independent."

Michael Owen, who played in the England game last week but was left out by Real for the Champions League clash, was upset by the chanting he heard.

"It's a bit disappointing to hear that," Owen said. "We've done really well in England to stamp it out, but there are pockets in Europe that can't stamp it out."

Blackburn fan Jason Perryman was today banned from attending football matches for five years and fined £1,000 after admitting in court to racially abusing Dwight Yorke during the game against Birmingham on Sunday. A second fan, David Ashcroft, pleaded not guilty.