Will trouble at the UEFA Cup Final be repeated at the Champions League Final?
May 15, 2008
The news today has been full of the scenes of riot police and bottle-throwing fans at the UEFA Cup final in Manchester between Rangers and Zenit St Petersburg, and the news that a Russian fan was stabbed. It seems to have wrecked what was looking to be a great final.
While police have said it was only a small minority of supporters causing trouble, it is incredibly bad timing to see British fans making the headlines for the wrong reasons – less than a week before tens of thousands of Chelsea and Manchester United followers head to Moscow for the Champions League Final. Is there likely to be a repetition of this behaviour next week?
Hopefully not given that the violence seems to have been blamed on the breakdown of one of the big screens in a fan park. Also because of the problems of obtaining a visa to travel, and the expense of getting there, there are unlikely to be as many ticketless fans out on the streets in Moscow as there were in Manchester. But then again mix Russian vodka with those few trouble-seeking fans and things could turn nasty.
What do you think?
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