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Espanyol faces sanctions for anti-Barcelona banners

Reuters

Barcelona - La Liga side Espanyol faces sanctions from Spain's anti-violence commission for offensive chants and banners aimed at Barcelona players in the side's Copa del Rey meeting on Wednesday.

The final of a series of three bad-tempered Catalan derbies in 12 days saw the Espanyol fans target Colombian popstar Shakira - the partner of Barca defender Gerard Pique - Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

Barca won the game 2-0 to progress to the quarter-finals 6-1 on aggregate.

"The banners and chants we saw last night at Cornella are unnacceptable and will be studied by the anti-violence commission," president of the Spanish sports council, Miguel Cardenal, said on Thursday.

Espanyol are already facing possible sanctions after the Spanish league reported racist chanting aimed at Brazilian star Neymar in the first of the recent clashes between the sides on January 2.

Possible sanctions vary from a fine to part or full closure of their Cornella-El Prat stadium.

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