Paris St Germain will not face disciplinary proceedings after their fans unfurled a ‘Free Palestine’ banner before kick-off in Wednesday’s Champions League game at home to Atletico Madrid, European football’s governing body Uefa said.

The 50x20-metre banner was displayed in the Auteuil Kop of the Parc des Princes, prompting France’s interior minister Bruno Retailleau to criticise the Qatar-owned club.

Uefa bans ‘provocative’ or ‘insulting’ political messages in stadiums, but said on Thursday the banner would not lead to potential sanctions despite some uproar in France and although previous political messages at matches resulted in punishments.

“There will be no disciplinary case because the banner that was unfurled cannot be in this case considered provocative or insulting,” a Uefa spokesperson said.

Last year, Scottish club Celtic were fined $18,870 after their supporters waved Palestinian flags at a Champions League match.

The PSG fans’ action took place eight days before France play Israel in a Nations League game in Paris with spectators allowed in the Stade de France.

Last month, Paris police officials said the game would ‘of course be open to the public’.

Questions have been raised about security surrounding the France vs Israel game in a country that has the largest Jewish community in Europe as well as its biggest population of Muslims.

Candid captain

Paris Saint-Germain captain Marquinhos lamented the team’s inefficiency and inability to “do things properly” after the 2-1 home loss to Atletico left them last among the four French clubs.

PSG once again entered the competition hopeful of winning it for the first time, but are now 25th out of 36 clubs after only one win in four matches.

The bottom 12 are eliminated after eight rounds.

“We are not improving in terms of efficiency,” Marquinhos told Canal Plus television.

“Sometimes when we make mistakes in the Champions League we are not punished for it, but when you have top players in the other team then you are (punished).”

With games against Bayern Munich and Manchester City still to come, PSG faces the worrying prospect of failing to qualify for the knockout round. The top eight reach the round of 16 while teams ranked ninth to 24th go into the knockout playoffs.

“You have to tell the truth, if we want to win games then we have to do things properly,” Marquinhos said in French.

“I’ve been here 10, 11 years and I know how we get punished on the small details.”