A little bit more on the incident at Celtic Park on Wednesday.
You all know the story and I won’t rehash it (I’ll save that for my Sunday column in the paper), but I wanted to point out that classy way both Milan and Celtic have handled the situation.
Celtic acted quickly to ban the disgraceful fan that invaded the pitch. Not just from matches at Celtic Park but from away ties too. Chief executive Peter Lawwell:
Celtic take this issue extremely seriously and it is satisfying that this individual has been identified so swiftly. The individual in question has now been banned for life from attending Celtic matches, both home and away.
Milan has also taken the high road by not petitioning to Uefa for any penalty to Celtic for the result on the pitch.
Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani summed the European Champions’ stance up perfectly:
It is a decision that I have agreed with the president Silvio Berlusconi. It is a decision we have taken because we are European champions and must behave like that.
I have respect for Milan taking this road. They fairly lost the match and are also showing their acceptance of how Celtic handled the situation quickly and strongly.
Perhaps part of that decision can be found in the embarrassment that the club is facing over the antics of its keeper Dida.
Dida returned to Italy to poor press for his playacting on the pitch. One newspaper’s poll had 83 percent of its respondents saying that Dida should be punished by Uefa and Milan.
He was also called out for his "embarrassing playacting" and called a "farce".
The ridicule wasn’t limited to the Italian press as Milan fans even derided their keeper for embarrassing Milan.
But the club showed their class, along with Celtic in dealing with a moron and a two-bit actor.