Uefa drops sectarian probe into Celtic fans

European football's governing body last week announced that it was looking at video footage from outside and inside the Nou Camp which appeared on the internet following the Champions League match between Celtic and Barcelona on 4 March.

However Uefa's disciplinary body will not take any action against Celtic after deciding the evidence available to them was insubstantial. "We've had a look into that, but no disciplinary case will be opened," a Uefa spokesman said. "There was not enough evidence."

Celtic welcomed the announcement from Uefa. Club officials had been surprised by last week's development but were confident they would face no charges.

A spokesperson for Celtic stressed: "As we said on Friday, we never felt that there was any case to answer and we welcome confirmation of this from Uefa today.

"Celtic and its supporters enjoy a unique relationship with FC Barcelona and our recent visit to the city was very well received once again by the club, the people of the city and the Catalan police. Indeed, the conduct of our fans was also applauded by Uefa."

Meanwhile, Celtic defender Andreas Hinkel insists there is no chance Rangers will be allowed to run away with the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title.

And the German, who was denied an equaliser by Allan McGregor's top-drawer save in Saturday's Old Firm clash, believes the leaders can definitely be caught as Celtic chase their third championship in a row.

Hinkel claims the 1-0 scoreline in Rangers' favour at Ibrox was harsh on Gordon Strachan's side, who had several first-half chances before Kevin Thomson shot the hosts ahead. "I don't think the result on Saturday was just," Hinkel, 26, said on the club's website www.celticfc.net.

Rangers must visit Parkhead twice before the end of the season, with the first of Celtic's two home Old Firm clashes taking place on 16 April. Those fixtures give Hinkel hope that he can make a trophy-winning start to his Celtic career, having arrived from Sevilla in January.

He said: "We still have the chance to win the league and we will fight all the way to do that. At the moment, Rangers are in a better position, but two wins in the derbies for us and everything changes.

"We had enough chances in the Rangers match to get a result and I saw a game that we could have won on Saturday."

Commenting on this article has been closed due to repeated breaches of our terms and conditions.