Besiktas charged by UEFA after cat strays onto pitch

Besiktas have been charged by UEFA after a cat wandered onto the Vodafone Park pitch during the Champions League last-16 second-leg defeat by Bayern Munich.

English referee Michael Oliver stopped play in the second half of Wednesday night's encounter in Istanbul until the animal left the pitch.

The cat leapt on an advertising hoarding before landing on the pitch and ran up and down the byline before escaping back into the stands.

In a statement on Thursday, UEFA said that Besiktas had been charged with "insufficient organisation" under Article 16 (1) of its disciplinary rules for allowing an "animal on the field of play".

The Turkish giants could also face further punishment for "throwing objects and blocked stairways", with the case to be heard on May 31.

Bayern won 3-1 on the night and 8-1 on aggregate to progress to the quarter-finals of the competition, with the cat voted man of the match on the Bundesliga club's social media pages.