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Legia Warsaw fans injure police officers with objects thrown outside Aston Villa’s ground

West Midlands Police say Legia Warsaw fans injure three officers with a number of objects thrown outside Aston Villa’s ground.

Thursday’s Europa Conference League tie between the two clubs began without any away fans inside, with the travelling supporters kept in a car park behind the Witton Lane stand after clashing with police.

Legia supporters had been given 1,000 tickets for the game, after their allocation was cut from 1,700 on police advice.

But another 1,000 supporters was expected to turn up at Villa Park without tickets, with Legia issuing a statement on their official website that accused Villa of refusing to allocate tickets.

A number of lit flares were chucked at officers, who were then forced to pen the travelling fans into a car park as they sort to restore order.

Legia Warsaw also put blame on Aston Villa for the violence, claiming that the reduced ticket allocation “exacerbated” the situation.

It said: “Instead of diffusing potential pre-match tensions, restrictive measures of Aston Villa FC as the host club needlessly exacerbate the atmosphere.

“In our view, such measures are counterproductive and unfounded.

“In a recent development, Aston Villa FC has firmly declined to adhere to Uefa competition regulations by refusing to allocate the stipulated pool of tickets for visiting supporters.

“As per Uefa competition regulations, visiting fans are entitled to a ticket allocation equivalent to 5 per cent of the stadium’s capacity.

“For matches hosted at the grounds of Aston Villa FC, this translates to a pool of 2,100 tickets.

“Legia Warsaw, as the visiting contingent, made a formal request for this allocation but was met with an unwelcome rejection.”

ASTON VILLA STATEMENT:

Aston Villa Football Club can confirm that no away fans were allowed into Villa Park for this evening’s UEFA Europa Conference League fixture with Legia Warsaw on the advice of West Midlands Police following large-scale disorder outside the stadium caused by visiting supporters.

The UK safety authorities, UEFA and Aston Villa, communicated on November 2 that the ticket allocation for away fans for this fixture would be reduced to 1,002 on the advice of safety authorities as a result of previous large-scale disorder caused by Legia fans last month at AZ Alkmaar.

A number of Dutch police officers were injured during that disorder. As a consequence, UEFA banned Legia supporters from travelling to Mostar for their game against HŠK Zrinjski.

In spite of numerous requests for cooperation from Legia Warsaw concerning their travelling supporters, especially in the last two days, no assistance on the serious safety matter of away fans attending Villa Park was forthcoming from the visiting club. The club has repeatedly, including this morning, raised concerns in conjunction with UEFA and all the relevant authorities to Legia that ticketless away supporters were attempting to attend Villa Park.

Approximately an hour before kick-off, Legia fans engaged in planned and systematic violent acts against West Midlands Police officers and a decision was then made by West Midlands Police to exclude all Legia supporters.

Aston Villa strongly condemns the behaviour of those visiting supporters and would like to thank West Midlands Police for their professionalism in very difficult circumstances.

Birmingham Police tweeted: ‘We’re currently unable to allow away fans into Villa Park following disorder outside the stadium which has seen missiles thrown at officers.

‘Three officers have already been injured & a significant policing operation continues. Please avoid Witton Lane where possible.’

In an official statement from Legia, they accused Villa of refusing to allocate tickets to away fans in accordance with UEFA regulations for a UEFA Europa Conference League match.

‘Instead of relieving potential pre-match tensions, Aston Villa FC’s restrictive measures as the host club unnecessarily exacerbate the atmosphere. In our opinion, such measures are counterproductive and baseless.’

Legia fans were greeted by a wall of police as they made their way towards Villa Park prior kick off, and that is when it all kicked off.

SEE MORE: 46 arrests made, Legia Warsaw fans injure police, in home end, throw objects at Aston Villa fans

This is what social media users said after seeing Legia Warsaw fans injure police officers with objects thrown outside Aston Villa’s ground…

@Richhhhhhh: There’s literally more away fans sat within one seat of me than in the away end at the moment.

@beds_villafan: Disgraceful from the Legia fans – really hope any Police Officers injured aren’t hurt too badly. Also hope everyone else manages to get away from the area unscathed. UTV

@WorcesterVilla: Thoughts are with the officers injured, hopefully not too serious. 💜💙

@Trentvilla1: Good decision. Best wishes to the injured officers just doing their job to protect those who simply want to watch a game. #avfc @BrumPolice

@BluesJack_: I honestly think Aston villa should be kicked out the competition and deducted 20 points for not letting Legia fans in. Disgrace of a club

@chehollender_: This is exactly why I didn’t go o knew it would a nightmare tonight 😂

@will_avfc: I get the feeling a lot of these Legia fans aren’t even bothered about the football. They’re quite literally only here for a scrap 🤣

@DomBriscoe: All I’m seeing on here is Legia fans running round the streets near VP, if they were let in to VP to watch the game they wouldn’t be breaking in, throwing things causing mayhem… maybe containing them in a little corner or a stadium would have been easier…

@Jim__Douglas: At some point the Legia directors might have to consider that the problems rests with their fans, rather than blaming Aston Villa, AZ Alkmaar, the Dutch police, the mayor of Alkmaar….

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