Four police officers have been injured and 46 people are in custody after “disgusting and highly dangerous scenes” before Aston Villa’s game with Legia Warsaw.
West Midlands Police said fans of the Polish side were not allowed into the stadium after missiles were thrown at officers before the start of the Europa Conference League game on Thursday evening.
The visiting fans were held in the coach park near the ground, while officers faced “90 minutes of sustained violence”.
Stewards also removed several people believed to be away supporters from the home stands during the match, while footage on social media appeared to show objects being thrown into the stadium from outside.
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Police attempt to put out flares thrown towards them outside the stadium
A safety advisory group recommended that the ticket allocation for away fans be cut by a thousand after trouble at Legia Warsaw’s match against AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands in October.
The force’s assistant chief constable, Damian Barratt, said this was not “taken well by the club”, with fans turning up to pick up tickets that were not there for them.
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‘He’s on fire’ – officer hit by flare
“The away fans were in an area that was identified as a ticket collection point, we were seeking to facilitate their safe entry with tickets,” he told Sky News.
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‘He’s on fire’ – officer hit by flare
“That became unsustainable and unachievable because we couldn’t maintain the same safety because they didn’t have tickets.”
He said the mood “quickly changed” when it became clear tickets were not going to be issued to all fans – and they “turned their attention onto the police officers”.
“That quickly escalated into the throwing of missiles. Those missiles were hard objects, they were flares,” he said, adding he was proud of the efforts made by officers to control the disorder.
“One of our officers was injured as a result of being struck by a flare and suffered both a burning of clothes and smoke inhalation as a result of that,” he said.
Police said in a statement that one of the injured police officers was taken to hospital, while two police horses and two police dogs were also hurt in the “disgusting and highly dangerous scenes”.
The force posted on X on Friday: “Of the suspects, 41 of those were arrested for violent disorder, four for possession of a knife/offensive weapon, and four for assaulting emergency workers.
“All of those arrested are away fans, and we’ll be working hard to charge and remand those suspects where we can today.”
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A police officer is helped up by colleagues after being hit by a flare
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Legia Warsaw fans ejected from the home stand by stewards
Chief Inspector Tim Robinson said: “This should have been a great evening of football which was enjoyed by fans from both clubs.
“Unfortunately, there were appalling scenes which saw away fans dangerously throw flares and other missiles at our officers.”
West Midlands mayor Andy Street wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Deeply unpleasant scenes outside Villa Park tonight, which were dealt with absolutely appropriately by West Midlands Police.
“A huge thank you to the brave officers who put themselves in harms way to keep others safe.
“I trust UEFA will now move swiftly to take strong action.”
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Legia Warsaw fans were sectioned off from the home fans by police
UEFA has said it “strongly condemns the unacceptable violence” which occurred around the match.
“UEFA is in the process of gathering all official reports from the game before deciding on potential next steps,” it said in a statement.
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In a statement, Legia said their official delegation, owner and president refused to enter Villa Park in solidarity with their supporters, while they also complained about the ticketing situation.
Aston Villa and Legia went into the match neck-and-neck at the top of Group E in the Europa Conference League, with the home side coming out on top with a 2-1 win.
The eight group winners automatically go through to the last 16 of the competition, while the eight runners-up go into a play-off with the third-ranked teams from the Europa League groups.
