The aggressive behavior of Legia Warsaw supporters, which resulted in over 30 arrests and four police officers being hurt, has been denounced by Aston Villa.
As the visiting fans were gathered at the coach park next to the stadium on Thursday night before the Europa Conference League match, missiles were hurled at the police.
West Midlands Police said in a statement that the “extreme violence” left them with no choice but to refuse access to supporters, and one injured officer was sent to the hospital.
Chief Inspector Tim Robinson stated: “Fans of both clubs should have had a fantastic evening of football.
“Unfortunately, there were appalling scenes which saw away fans dangerously throw flares and other missiles at our officers.”
Prior to the group stage match, Villa disclosed that she had made appeals to the Polish club for assistance in stopping ticketless fans from traveling, but she had received no response.
“Aston Villa Football Club can confirm that no away fans were allowed into Villa Park for this evening’s UEFA Europa Conference League match against Legia Warsaw due to the large-scale disturbance that visiting fans caused outside the stadium,” the statement from Villa read.
The safety authorities in the UK, along with UEFA and Aston Villa, announced on November 2 that due to the large-scale disturbances created by Legia fans against AZ Alkmaar last month, the allocation of tickets for away fans for this match will be lowered to 1,002.
“During that disturbance, several Dutch police officers suffered injuries. Consequently, Legia supporters were prohibited by UEFA from traveling to Mostar for their match against HSK Zrinjski.
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