Sporting supporters face playing their next Champions League match with part of their stadium closed after fireworks went off during Arsenal 's 5-1 win at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.
Several fireworks exploded in midair minutes after the Gunners scored their second goal of the game. Kai Havertz doubled the lead after Gabriel Martinelli had opened the scoring in the seventh minute.
Pyrotechnics went off at the opposite end of the pitch, behind the goal David Raya was in front of. Smoke bombs were also seemingly set off in the stands, with plumes of green and white smoke filling the air above that section of the stadium.
Similar scenes occurred in the last Champions League match they hosted earlier this month when Sporting won 4-1 against Manchester City. Only last week, UEFA 's Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) fined the Portuguese champions over £20,000 (€25,000) for lighting fireworks during that game.
They also ordered a partial stadium closure for the next fixture they host but suspended that punishment for two years. Sporting could now be charged again for the same offence within that probationary period, seemingly meaning that sector A14 of the stadium, where the Juventude Leonina ultra group, the oldest in Portugal - founded in 1976 - is situated.
Their next two Champions League matches are away, against Club Brugge and RB Leipzig, but they host Bologna in their final game of the league phase on 29 January. Sporting are currently level on points with Arsenal, only a place behind because of their inferior goal difference, so potentially playing their final game with a section of their stadium could affect whether they progress into the knockout round, go into the play-offs - for which they could be either seeded or unseeded - or exit the competition entirely.
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