Barcelona fined for Catalan flags in Champions League final

 

The European and Spanish champions have been charged €30,000 for the presence of the flags during their 3-1 win over Juventus in June

Barcelona have been fined by Uefa for their fans waving Catalan flags during their Champions League final win over Juventus.

A large section of the Barca support are heavily in favour of Catalunya becoming an independent nation, while the club confirmed ahead of last year's referendum that it too supports the movement.

While Catalan flags are ever present during the club's league games, they are not allowed by Uefa and the club have been landed with a €30,000 fine for fans waving them at the Olympiastadion on June 6.

Uefa found Barca to be in breach of Article 16 2 (e) of the disciplinary regulations, which forbids "the use of gestures, words, objects or any other means to transmit any message that is not fit for a sports event, particularly messages that are of a political, ideological, religious, offensive or provocative nature".

Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez and Neymar were on target for Luis Enrique's men in a 3-1 win that saw the Blaugrana beat Juventus to complete a European and domestic treble.