- Aston Villa hosts Legia Warsaw tonight in the Europa Conference League
- Legia fans clashed with police outside Villa Park before kick-off
- Gary O’Neil has reached his last resort on Wolves’ decisions: It all starts
Three police officers were injured outside Villa Park after missiles were thrown at them by Legia Warsaw fans.
The Europa Conference League match between Aston Villa and Legia started without any away fans in the stadium, with the traveling supporters in a car park behind the Witton Lane stand after a clash with police.
Mail Sport understands Legia were unhappy with their reduced allocation after Villa reduced their ticket allocation to just 890 based on advice from the police and safety advisory group.
UEFA rules allow the visiting team five percent of the stadium’s capacity, which equates to 2,100 tickets for Villa Park.
Birmingham Police tweeted: ‘We are currently unable to allow fans into Villa Park following disturbances outside the stadium where missiles were thrown at officers.
Legia Warsaw fans and police clashed outside Villa Park on Thursday evening
Legia fans let off flares as they were trapped by the wall of police officers
Birmingham Police confirmed three officers were injured following the ugly scenes
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“Three officers have already been injured and a significant police operation is continuing. 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 rules for a UEFA Europa Conference League match.
‘Rather than easing potential pre-match tensions, Aston Villa FC’s restrictive measures as the host club are unnecessarily worsening the atmosphere. In our opinion, such measures are counterproductive and unwarranted.”
Legia supporters headed towards Villa Park before kick-off but were confronted by a barrier and a wall of police officers wearing helmets with visors to protect themselves.
There were no away fans at Villa Park when the match started at 8pm
The fans seemed to become frustrated and flares were set off as they were locked up by police.
On the pitch, tonight’s match promises to be an intriguing battle between the two best teams in Group E.
Villa and Legia are level on nine points after four matches, and both teams will look to clinch their place in the knockout stages with a win.
Legia won the reverse fixture in September when they defeated Unai Emery’s men 3-2 in Poland.