Cisse rises above the Bulgarian racist fans
Aug 12 2005
By Paul Walker Daily Post Correspondent
FRENCH striker Djibril Cisse has dismissed as "stupid people" the CSKA Sofia fans who subjected him to a torrent of racial abuse during Liverpool's Champions League victory in Bulgaria.
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Cisse had to listen to offensive chants for much of the second half of Liverpool's 3-1 win over CSKA in the third qualifying round first leg.
Cisse admitted he was hurt by the abuse, claiming he had never experienced such a situation in the past.
He said: "It's hurtful when it happens but there are a lot of stupid people sometimes at these matches. And as a player you can't do anything about it. "You can say that UEFA should take stronger action when it happens but I am not sure what they can do."
Liverpool's black players suffered similar abuse in this same stadium in March 2004, but this time it was fans of Levski Sofia.
The Anfield club have also endured incidents against Boavista in Portugal, Valencia in Spain and Steaua Bucharest in Romania in recent years.
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England players have also been targets for racial abuse in Europe with the now-infamous Madrid incident, when abuse was aimed at Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips during a friendly against Spain.
UEFA have been criticised for being lenient with such incidents in the past but the Bulgarian club already know they will be reported to the European governing body by their match delegate Trygve Borno. It is expected to be on the agenda of the next disciplinary meeting on August 18.
The Norwegian saw fit to actually approach the Liverpool officials to tell them he would be including the incidents in his match report.
CSKA now face the prospect of being fined or even having to play games behind closed doors in European competition.
That will probably now be the UEFA Cup this season as they can hardly expect to overturn Wednesday's comfortable Liverpool victory, which should see the holders safely into the group stages after the second leg at Anfield in a fortnight.
With the Michael Shields case also overshadowing Liverpool's visit to Bulgaria, another high profile incident will only make the second leg a worrying prospect for the club.
Cisse had scored Liverpool's first goal before the abuse started and he said: "This is the first time anything like this has happened to me. I think the only solution is to educate people so they understand that they should not be doing this.
"I am strong enough to deal with it, and I don't let it affect me. I am just sad that we have to talk about this issue."
But Cisse refused to blame CSKA, adding: "You really can't stop these people doing this. It is not CSKA's fault and I do not know what can be done.
"When it happens I am sorry for football because no-one wants it. Normally I do not have this sort of problem.
"It began when I tried to put a cross in on the right in the second half, and the fans there started to do these noises."
The abuse suffered by Cisse came as the European champions all but secured their pbuttage to the group stages of the Champions League for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Only a miracle result for the Bulgarians at Anfield in a fortnight will stop Rafael Benitez's men from marching - still without country protection in the draw - into a place among the elite of Europe which they feel is rightfully theirs.
They will instantly become number one seeds as holders when the group stage draw takes place in Monaco in a fortnight. But Liverpool stand on the brink of achieving their summer objective, angry that Cisse has been subjected to the sort of racial abuse which never seems far away from a European match.
Benitez said: "There is no place for this. The most important thing is that the UEFA man has said he will send in a report, he has done his job. But it is better not to talk too much about such things because all you do is to give more publicity to the situation.
"It was a pity, because their supporters had done a good job for their team supporting them so well, it was a big mistake to resort to such things.
"If you talk about sport, you must make sure things do not happen like this again.
"It will now go to UEFA, was scoring a goal provocation?"
