Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo admits he has been left disappointed by the club's failure to prevent next week's Champions League home match against PSV Eindhoven from being played behind closed doors.
However, the Rojiblancos chief conceded the club would have to accept the decision announced today by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Atletico had appealed to CAS against the punishments handed out to them by UEFA for crowd incidents during their home European game against Marseille on October 1.
However, CAS only partially upheld the appeal, meaning that while Atletico's original fine has been halved to 75,000 euros and their suspended second stadium ban lifted, the club must face PSV without any supporters in attendance.
"I'm disappointed because we hoped to succeed with our case and clear ourselves of these accusations, but this decision leaves us in no doubt about the situation now," said Cerezo, who revealed he did not expect the ruling.
"It's difficult because when you have done nothing you don't have to fear anything bad. Now there is nowhere and no one left to turn to."
UEFA had initially given the Spanish side a three-match ban from their Vicente Calderon stadium, with one deferred, and told to play at least 300 kilometres away from Madrid for incidents against Marseille.
Those incidents included outbreaks of violence between Marseille fans and Spanish police after the authorities removed a banner that featured a prohibited symbol, as well as accusations from OM officials and players that they had received racial abuse from Atletico fans.
Atletico were also fined 150,000 euros while coach Javier Aguirre was handed a two-match touchline ban.
Atletico appealed to UEFA against those punishments, which allowed their home Champions League match against Liverpool on October 22 to go ahead unaffected until the appeal was heard.
The Rojiblancos' bid to UEFA was ultimately only partially successful, with European football's governing body reducing the punishment to a two-match behind-closed-doors sentence, with one match deferred for two years, while upholding the fine and touchline ban for Aguirre.
Atletico continued to fight their case though and went to CAS, who announced their decision today.
A CAS statement read: "Having examined the arguments and evidence submitted by the parties, the CAS Panel, in line with UEFA, concluded that Atletico Madrid committed several serious security breaches during the match against Olympique Marseille, which allowed the incidents to occur at the Vicente Calderon stadium.
"The club's situation is made worse by events of the recent past which led the Panel to uphold the sanction of playing the match on 26 November 2008 behind closed doors.
"However, the second match behind closed doors (currently suspended) was overturned and the fine was reduced by half in light of the fact that the racist acts alleged by UEFA could not be established with certainty. The reasons for the decision will be published at a later date."
CAS also announced that all other decisions made by the UEFA appeals body had been upheld.
Cerezo added: "At least they have determined that there had been no racist or xenophobic behaviour, which was what we were accused of at first.
"The punishments come as a result of a lack of co-ordination between the police and our private security, but now I hope that UEFA explain to clubs clearly how this co-ordination should be.
"Now all that remains is to beat PSV and beat them well so that we don't have to play for our qualification against Marseille."
Atletico are currently level with Liverpool on eight points at the top of Group D, five points clear of both Marseille and PSV with two games remaining.
Meanwhile, Atletico defender Mariano Pernia admits he was taken aback by the ruling, saying: "I cannot believe it. It's inconceivable to play at our ground but without our fans."
