UEFA punish Spain duo Rodri and Alvaro Morata for Gibraltar song in Euro 2024 celebrations | Football | Sport
UEFA have charged Manchester City midfielder Rodri and AC Milan striker Alvaro Morata after they chanted “Gibraltar is Spanish” during their Euro 2024 celebrations earlier this month. The Spain duo encouraged the controversial chant as they marked their 2-1 triumph against England with a party in Madrid.
Nico Williams’ opening goal at the start of the second half and substitute Mikel Oyarzabal’s late winner condemned England to a second successive Euros final defeat at the Olimpiastadion in Berlin.
While Gareth Southgate and his squad made a sombre journey back to the UK after another painful close call, Spain’s players returned to their homeland to host victory celebrations in the capital.
But controversy stirred after Rodri, the Player of the Tournament and one of the frontrunners for the 2024 Ballon d’Or, was spotted chanting “Gibraltar is Spanish” on a stage in Madrid’s Cibeles Square.
Morata intensified the backlash by taking it up a notch and encouraging the joyous thousands in attendance to join in with the same chant.
The Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) lodged a complaint about the scenes to UEFA, stating it had “noted the extremely provocative and insulting nature of the celebrations around the Spanish Men’s national team winning Euro 2024”.
Gibraltar added that “football has no place for behaviour of this nature.”
The reaction prompted European football’s governing body to oversee an evaluation of “a potential violation of the UEFA disciplinary regulations,” and Rodri and Morata have landed themselves in hot water.
Both players have been charged with “general principles of conduct, violating the basic rules of decent conduct, using sporting events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature, and bringing the sport of football, and UEFA in particular, into disrepute”.
UEFA have confirmed that their control, ethics and disciplinary body (CEDB) will decide on the next steps “in due course.”
Gibraltar, an enclave at Spain’s most southern point, has been under British rule since the 18th Century.
Spain has called for its return for years, and the issue naturally entered ill-intended banter when the nation clashed with England for major silverware in Germany’s capital.
They had the last laugh, extending England’s 58 years of hurt, which led to Southgate’s resignation as manager after an almost-decade-long reign.
Spain are now the most successful nation in the European Championships’ history, lifting the Henri Delaunay Trophy four times, once more than Germany.
Meanwhile, England’s wait to be named European champions for the first time continues.
