Juventus's Chilean midfielder Arturo Erasmo Pardo Vidal (top) vies with AC Milan midfielder Sulley Ali Muntari during the Serie A football match in Turin. Source: AFP
THE San Siro stadium will be closed to fans for AC Milan's next match as punishment for insulting chants by the club's fans during a weekend match at Juventus.
It's the second time this season that Milan has been sanctioned by the league judge, after fans also subjected Napoli supporters to discriminatory chants.
The ban will come into effect for Milan's next match, against Udinese on October 19.
Milan was also fined 50,000 euros ($71,800).
A statement from the Serie A judge said Milan was punished because "several hundreds of its supporters, for some minutes before the start of the match and at the sixth and 43rd minutes of the second half, chanted an insulting chorus expressing territorial discrimination against supporters of another club."
Milan immediately announced that it would appeal the decision, saying it "lacks justification".
Juventus won the match 3-2, leaving Milan 13 points behind Serie A leader Roma in a tie for 12th with promoted Livorno.
Serie A is handing out harsher punishments for fan racism and discrimination this season. Three other clubs - Roma, Lazio and Inter Milan - have had partial stadium bans for fan racism.
Also Monday, the league judge banned Milan defender Philippe Mexes for four matches - three games for punching Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini and one for a red card picked up later.
The punishments add to the woes for a Milan squad that has had to deal with several injuries to key players so far this season, plus a three-match ban for forward Mario Balotelli for insulting and threatening the referee, which ended with the Juventus game.
