Last night, Legia football fans set a police officer ablaze and injured three others by hurling flares before their match against Aston Villa.
A chaotic situation unfolded near Villa’s stadium as Legia fans, confined to a coach park, launched flares and missiles at the police.
Villa secured a 2-1 win in a game that kicked off at its scheduled 2000 GMT time, with Legia fans not allowed into Villa Park before the start.
The officer, who endured burns after being struck by a flare and engulfed in flames, is now undergoing recovery in the hospital.
Aston Villa strongly denounced the violence that resulted in three injured police officers, following violent clashes involving Legia Warsaw fans before Thursday’s Europa Conference League game.
A Birmingham Police statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, read: ‘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 and a significant policing operation continues. Please avoid Witton Lane where possible.’
In light of worries over potential crowd trouble, the Polish club had its ticket allocation cut to just under 1,000.
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Unfazed by the reduced allocation, ticketless Legia fans insisted on making the journey to Birmingham.
‘Aston Villa 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 Premier League club said in a statement.
‘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 HSK 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.’
A wall of police officers, equipped with helmets and visors, greeted Legia supporters as they advanced towards Villa Park.Injuries to the police resulted from an incident triggered by the release of flares while the crowd was confined.
Throughout the match, the section of Villa Park usually designated for visiting fans remained entirely unoccupied, while there were additional incidents of crowd trouble outside the stadium.
Videos circulating on social media captured a group of Legia fans gathered in a street, throwing bottles towards Villa supporters who were observing from inside the ground.
‘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 club added.