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Espanyol have been fined €24,002 for their fans' display of a banner insulting Colombian pop star Shakira during a Copa del Rey game against Barcelona in January, according to reports in Spain. Barca and Espanyol met three times in early January across La Liga and the Copa, with bad-tempered behaviour culminating in supporters at Cornella-El Prat displaying a home-made banner which read "Shakira es de todos" during Barca's 2-0 Copa del Rey last 16 second leg victory on Jan. 13. In Spanish this translates literally as "Shakira belongs to us all" and was widely interpreted as a sexist insult against the wife of Barcelona defender Gerard Pique. At the time Barcelona mayor Ada Colau spoke of her disgust at what she called "horrible behaviour," while Spain's secretary of state for sport, Miguel Cardenal, also condemned the banner and related chanting as "unacceptable." There was no mention of either the chants or banners in the referee's official report on the game, but the anti-violence committee at the Spanish sports ministry asked the Spanish FA [RFEF] to look at what happened and reports in the Catalan media say the fine of €24,002 has been imposed and Espanyol will not appeal. The three Catalan capital derbies in early 2016 brought a number of unsavoury incidents -- including racist chants aimed at Blaugrana star Neymar, a tunnel incident which saw Barca forward Luis Suarez banned for two games, and Espanyol goalkeeper Pau Lopez escape punishment after apparently stamping on Lionel Messi. Spain international Pique also tweeted a video of Espanyol fans singing abusive songs aimed at Shakira and their young son Milan during the La Liga derby on Jan 2. At the time Pique was apparently investigated by RFEF for his tweets for potentially bringing the game into disrepute, but no action was taken.
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