Marseille and Benfica appeal for police to allow travelling support to attend quarter-final clash
Olympique de Marseille have released a joint communiqué with Benfica announcing that they have appealed to the relevant authorities in France and Portugal to ask that their Europa League quarter-final be played in front of both sets of supporters.
This comes after the Bouches-du-Rhône Police Prefecture set out to ban Benfica fans from travelling to Marseille, w hich is an action that is expected to carry a tit-for-tat response from the Libson authorities preventing Marseille supporters from attending the away leg .
The police consider this to be a high-risk fixture and point to the expected arrival of between 200 to 300 violent supporters within the Benfica ultra groups that they are concerned about, as well as their worries over the number of fans arriving and the mode of transport making their movements hard to track and accommodate.
Both clubs have announced that they have been liaising with UEFA, and working closely together to meet all the needed criteria and guarantee the highest standards of organisation for security at the game.
The club statement concludes, “ Football is a wonderful vector of emotion and cooperation which loses its meaning without the presence of the supporters who are the reason for this sport. ”
GFFN | Nick Hartland
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