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MADRID (Reuters) – Lionel Messi and Barcelona have been fined a combined total of 780 euros (706.30 pounds) after the player received a yellow card for lifting his shirt to pay tribute to the late Diego Maradona after his goal in La Sunday’s 4-0 win over Osasuna.
Messi, who was fined 600 euros and his club 180, paid tribute to his late compatriot by taking off his Barça shirt to reveal a Maradona Newell’s Old Boys shirt, a gesture that was praised around the world.
However, the competition committee of the Spanish football federation showed little sympathy when it came to respecting the rules, rejecting Barça’s protests against the punishment and their suggestion that it should be resigned, as the gesture was a tribute to Maradona. .
The committee statement said that while it accepted the gesture it was a tribute, Article 93 of the disciplinary code states that a player must be penalized for removing his shirt when celebrating, regardless of the reason.
The statement added that Messi could only have had his sanction lifted if he had been given the warning by mistake.
Messi supports Newell’s Old Boys and played for the club’s youth team before leaving for Barça at age 13.
He also paid tribute to Maradona, who played for Rosario in 1993, when the World Cup winner passed away last Wednesday.
“He has left us but is not going anywhere because Diego is eternal,” Messi wrote on Instagram.
(1 pound sterling = 1.1043 euros)
(Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Toby Davis)
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