UEFA’s unexpected response to Celtic banner vs FC Copenhagen

UEFA responded in unexpected fashion to the banner displayed by Celtic fans away at Telia Parken in their 1-1 draw against FC Copenhagen.

Celtic and FC Copenhagen played out a thrilling 1-1 draw in the first leg of the Europa League round of 32 tie. It was a game of two halves, with each side dominating one half each. While Celtic were the better team in the first half, carving through the Danish champions time after time, the hosts had their opportunities in the second half and will be kicking themselves for missing a penalty that would have given them the win.

A large contingent of Celtic fans had travelled to Denmark to be in attendance to witness their side play out the draw. While not the best result by any means, especially after their first-half performance. But it is not terrible either and sets them up nicely to win a knockout phase tie in Europe for the first time since 2004, thereby ending a 16-year drought.

Ultimately, it will be the Scottish champions who will be the happier of the two sides. They take the tie to Glasgow knowing that a win at home will see them through to the last 16. And they also have the away goal to fall back on if needed. They will also be happy with UEFA’s response to the banner that they displayed before the game:

Celtic have not been in UEFA’s good books lately with them being fined on numerous occasions for Green Brigade’s antics. This even resulted in the club closing down the section of the stadium that houses the ultras, earlier in the season after their use of fireworks had caught the attention of the European governing body.

Thus, it is nice to see UEFA appreciating the effort that fans put in just to make the occasion more colourful.