The Sun and the Daily Mirror have been denied accreditation to cover next week's Champions League quarter-final return leg between Bayern Munich and Manchester United – after the German side complained of "disrespectful, discriminatory and personally insulting" coverage.
The two newspapers were condemned by the club for their stories about Bayern midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, who was sent off in the 90th minute of the first-leg match on Tuesday following a foul on Wayne Rooney.
The articles were headlined "You Schwein!" in The Sun and "You Dirty Schwein" in the Mirror. Schwein means "pig" in German.
The club said in a statement: "Following the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg between Manchester United and FC Bayern München last Tuesday, 1 April 2014, UK media the Daily Mirror and The Sun published disrespectful, discriminatory and personally insulting 'reports' about our player Bastian Schweinsteiger. This is unacceptable to FC Bayern München and the club strongly condemns reporting of this nature.
"The Champions League is the main vehicle for UEFA’s major European-wide 'RESPECT' campaign. This logo appears on the shirts of all players in the competition, and all participants in the competition are required to uphold the principles of 'RESPECT'.
"Due to a breach of this commitment by four spectators who displayed a disrespectful banner at the Allianz Arena in Munich during the Round of 16 home fixture against Arsenal, FC Bayern was ordered to close a 700-seat section of the stadium and pay a €10,000 fine. We accepted this sanction.
"FC Bayern München will not issue media accreditation to any representatives of the Daily Mirror and The Sun for the return fixture between FC Bayern München and Manchester United at the Allianz Arena on 9 April 2014."
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