Aston Villa condemn ‘violent acts’ from Legia Warsaw fans ahead of Europa Conference League match

Legia Warsaw fans let off flares as they clash with police officers outside Villa Park (Picture: Reuters)

Aston Villa have condemned the ‘planned and systematic violent acts’ of Legia Warsaw fans ahead of the Europa Conference League match on Thursday which left three police officers injured.

The Polish team’s supporters were barred from entering Villa Park after some lit flares and clashed with police outside the stadium.

Around 3,000 away fans are believed to have travelled to Birmingham, with around 1,000 thought to have been without a ticket for the match.

A club statement read: ‘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.

Police officers were injured in the clashes with away fans (Picture: Reuters)

‘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.

Stewards stand in the empty away fans section of Villa Park (Picture: REUTERS)

‘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.’

The game finished 2-1 to the home side, with Moussa Diaby opening the scoring, Ernest Muci equalising and Alex Moreno netting the winner on his return from injury after six months out.

MORE : Three officers injured as Legia Warsaw fans clash with police outside Villa Park

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