Friday, May 28, 2021
Chelsea and Man City supporters clash in Porto as riot police threaten warring fans with batons ahead of tomorrow's Champions League final
- Pictures show hundreds of supporters drinking and chanting in bars in the centre of the Portuguese city
- Supporters brawled on streets of Porto last night before Man City battle Chelsea in Champions League Final
- Footage shows two gangs face off above a Metro stop as they shouted expletives at one another last night
- 30-strong crowd turned violent when a bar stool was hurled back and forth as local police pulled groups away
Rival gangs of English football fans clashed with riot police armed with batons on the streets of Porto today ahead of the hotly anticipated Champions League final.
Supporters of Manchester City and Chelsea fought each other and police by the Douro river in the north-west Portuguese city after a bar stool was hurled back and forth.
Armed with flags adorned with their club crests, English fans flouted social distancing as they threw punches and lit up flares in skirmishes following a day of heavy drinking.
Photos earlier in the day showed hundreds of topless supporters drinking and cheering ahead of the UEFA Champions League final at the Dragao stadium, the home ground of FC Porto.
Up to 16,500 fans will be admitted, with each side allocated 6,000 tickets - with around 2,000 going to UEFA delegates and sponsors - and the rest sold to regular punters in Portugal.
But thousands more fans who do not have tickets will also face the agony of missing the game on TV, as bars in Porto close at 10.30pm on Saturday night as per coronavirus regulations.
Last night Antonio Fonseca, chairman of the Association of Bar Keepers of Historic Porto, said he feared there would be trouble if bars and restaurants closed at that time.
He told MailOnline: 'I'm worried about this aspect - if the game goes into extra time and it has penalties like the other night it won't finish until maybe 10.45, so we face the prospect of owners asking people to leave with the match yet to finish. Who is going to be brave enough to tell these people who have been drinking all day to go?
'It raises the possibility of violence and aggression and that's why we asked the local council for an extension but so far we have heard nothing. It's not going to be easy to ask the English supporters to leave.
'This situation should have been taken care of. In the past, the Porto authorities met with us but unfortunately, they have not done so. Everything will shut at the same time which means there will be large groups on the streets and the police will have to disperse them quickly.'
WATCH VIDEO:
Rival gangs of English football fans clashed with riot police armed with batons on the streets of Porto today ahead of the hotly anticipated Champions League final.
Supporters of Manchester City and Chelsea fought each other and police by the Douro river in the north-west Portuguese city after a bar stool was hurled back and forth.
Armed with flags adorned with their club crests, English fans flouted social distancing as they threw punches and lit up flares in skirmishes following a day of heavy drinking.
Photos earlier in the day showed hundreds of topless supporters drinking and cheering ahead of the UEFA Champions League final at the Dragao stadium, the home ground of FC Porto.
Up to 16,500 fans will be admitted, with each side allocated 6,000 tickets - with around 2,000 going to UEFA delegates and sponsors - and the rest sold to regular punters in Portugal.
But thousands more fans who do not have tickets will also face the agony of missing the game on TV, as bars in Porto close at 10.30pm on Saturday night as per coronavirus regulations.
Last night Antonio Fonseca, chairman of the Association of Bar Keepers of Historic Porto, said he feared there would be trouble if bars and restaurants closed at that time.
He told MailOnline: 'I'm worried about this aspect - if the game goes into extra time and it has penalties like the other night it won't finish until maybe 10.45, so we face the prospect of owners asking people to leave with the match yet to finish. Who is going to be brave enough to tell these people who have been drinking all day to go?
'It raises the possibility of violence and aggression and that's why we asked the local council for an extension but so far we have heard nothing. It's not going to be easy to ask the English supporters to leave.
'This situation should have been taken care of. In the past, the Porto authorities met with us but unfortunately, they have not done so. Everything will shut at the same time which means there will be large groups on the streets and the police will have to disperse them quickly.'
WATCH VIDEO:
Source: dailymail.co.uk
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