Racism in football came under the spotlight again as the Croatian Football Federation was docked 80,000 euros for a number of offences, including the abuse of Italy striker Mario Balotelli by between 300 and 500 of the country's fans during Thursday's game in Poznan.

The match was also dogged by accusations a banana had been thrown onto the field.

The fine is one of the biggest imposed by UEFA for racism-related incidents but is still significantly lower than the 100,000 euro punishment dished out to Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner 24 hours earlier for displaying a sponsored pair of underwear.

Critics of the decision pointed out on Monday that UEFA had taken more draconian action against Bendtner than they had over several racist incidents down the years.

Those arguments carried even more weight when considering that Croatia's fine - which they can appeal - was not only for racist abuse.

The Federation, who last week labelled their misbehaving fans "deviant", were also punished for supporters setting off and throwing fireworks for a second time at Euro 2012.