Ref saves Spain

Spain escaped with a fine for the racist taunting of England players partly because the referee did not mention the abuse at all in his match report.

The constant monkey chants directed towards Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips appeared to involve hundreds of Spanish fans during the friendly in Madrid, but the Greek match official George Kasnaferis did not report it.

It is understood Kasnaferis’ omission meant FIFA’s disciplinary committee were unable to deal with the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) as severely as they would have liked.