Atletico Madrid have urged their fans to behave during next Wednesday's Champions League clash against Liverpool after UEFA ruled the game will be played at the Vicente Calderon Stadium after all.
Earlier this week, Atletico were ordered by UEFA to play their next two matches in the competition at a neutral venue at least 300 kilometers away from the Spanish capital after trouble during their match against Marseille on October 1. A further one-match ban was suspended.
Atletico filed an appeal against the ban on Thursday, and UEFA responded by announcing the Liverpool game will be played in the Spanish capital.
However, UEFA warned that the game will come under close scrutiny and any incidents would be considered as part of the appeals process.
The club responded on Thursday night by welcoming UEFA's decision and asking fans to respect their opponents next week.
"Club Atletico de Madrid, after receiving the official notification of the provisional suspension granted by the UEFA Board of Appeals requested by the Club, would like to state their approval with the decision adopted by this body, by virtue of which the Champions League match between Atletico de Madrid and Liverpool will be played at Estadio Vicente Calderon and their manager, Javier Aguirre, will be able to sit on the bench.
"Regardless of the provisional suspension conceded, the Club will continue to fight the charges with the goal of completely clearing up everything that occurred and proving their innocence, along with proving the absence of the organization's responsibility with respect to what they have been accused of.
"Furthermore, the club would like to ask its fans to show the maximum respect towards the decision adopted by UEFA and to continue to display the good sportsmanship and fair play that they have been demonstrating at all matches to date, considering the importance lent to supporters' behavior for the positive development of a football match."
Earlier, UEFA had warned that the game would come under close scrutiny.
"UEFA is...keen to stress that safety and security matters, including efficient co-operation with the police, are of the utmost priority and that there is a zero-tolerance policy for incidents concerning racism in football," a UEFA statement said.
"The match between Club Atletico de Madrid and Liverpool FC will be under particular scrutiny and UEFA is ready to take immediate and further action if there are any reported incidents at this match."
UEFA's initial decision to move the game from Madrid brought protests from Liverpool over the short notice of the switch, as many fans have already made travel arrangements.
In their statement, UEFA said that the problems presented to Liverpool fans wanting to attend the game was a factor in the decision to allow the game to be played in Madrid next week.
"After immediate consideration of the request for suspension, and having considered in particular the organizational and logistical difficulties related to relocating the Club Atletico de Madrid v Liverpool FC match to another venue at short notice, the chairman of the Appeals Body has decided to grant the request for suspension of the sanctions," the statement said.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, UEFA's director of communications William Gaillard said the first priority for UEFA was to guarantee the safety of fans.
"For us it was paramount that we could offer a safe environment for Liverpool fans," he said. "Atletico must provide that environment otherwise it will stand against them in the appeal."
The ongoing process had left Liverpool fans in limbo as they were unsure whether to cancel planned trips to Madrid with less than a week left until the fixture. However, Gaillard said the delays were unavoidable.
"We only received the appeal from Atletico Madrid today," he said. "Therefore we needed to have a due process on how we handled it legally.
"We hoped to announce it yesterday but we had to wait until today."
UEFA were quick to stress that the sanction has been suspended and not overturned, pending an Atletico appeal which will take place on October 31.
An unsuccessful appeal by Atletico would lead to their game against PSV Eindhoven on November 22 being switched, as well another subsequent home match should they progress from the group stages.
The punishment was issued after monkey chants were aimed at Marseille players and the French side's bus was also attacked following the match at the Calderon.
There were also outbreaks of violence as police clashed with visiting supporters.
In addition to the stadium ban, Atletico were handed a 150,000 euros fine while Aguirre was banned from the touchline for two games.
Atletico have pleaded their innocence, insisting that the trouble originated among the Marseille fans while claiming there is no evidence of any discrimination being exhibited by their own supporters.
The Spanish government also stepped in on Wednesday to defend the actions of police in dealing with the trouble, while lending their support to the Atletico appeal.
However, Gaillard insisted on Thursday that some form of action had to be taken.
"We have to sanction the behavior in Madrid," Gaillard said. "We had to be firm and there was no other way. Our disciplinary body is independent. They applied the rules but we discovered that if the game was moved it would create problems for the Liverpool fans who are innocent in this situation.
"If Atletico Madrid did not appeal before tomorrow we could still have decided to suspend the sentence for practical reasons."
