Response to Yaya Toure abuse an overreaction, says CSKA coach

CSKA Moscow coach Leonid Slutskiy believes there has been a huge overreaction to accusations of racism against the club’s supporters.

The Russian champions were ordered to close part of the Khimki Arena for their next Champions League home fixture with Bayern Munich, after being reprimanded for racist chants towards Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure.

But Slutskiy said he was unaware of any such incidents, reiterating the club’s insistence that its supporters were not guilty of racist chants.

“We did not hear any racist slur so it is difficult to comment,” he told reporters.

“The club is categorically against racism, but we think the situation has been exaggerated and that there has been an overreaction.

“We have received our punishment, it was up to UEFA.”

CSKA media director Sergei Aksenov interrupted a question of whether the club were concerned about a repeat of such behaviour at Eastlands.

“Let us wait for them to repeat it and then feel sorry for that,” he said.

Manchester City have decided to deploy Russian translators at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday to monitor the language used by CSKA’s fans.

Meanwhile, several CSKA supporters fell foul of the authorities before even arriving in Manchester for Tuesday’s return match between the two sides.

A flight carrying CSKA fans to Manchester had to be diverted to Denmark to eject drunken passengers.

An Easyjet spokesman said: “Easyjet can confirm that flight EZY1872 flying from Moscow Domodedovo to Manchester on 3 November diverted to Copenhagen airport due to the disruptive behaviour of a passenger on board. One passenger was immediately offloaded on arrival.

“Unfortunately, prior to take off, it was necessary for the captain to take the decision to offload a further six passengers. The aircraft then continued towards Manchester where it landed with a short delay.”