Police Officer Burnt During Confrontation With Legia Fans At Aston Villa

Last night, supporters of Legia football ignited chaos by setting a police officer ablaze and causing injuries to three others through a barrage of flares near Villa’s stadium before their match against Aston Villa.

In the vicinity of Villa’s stadium, law enforcement officers were targeted with flares and projectiles while attempting to control the Legia fans gathered in a coach park. Despite the scheduled 2000 GMT kick-off time, no Legia supporters were permitted entry into Villa Park before the game.

The match, ultimately won 2-1 by Aston Villa, proceeded as planned. Unfortunately, one officer suffered burns and is currently undergoing recovery in the hospital after being engulfed in flames due to a direct hit from a flare.

Aston Villa has strongly denounced the violence that resulted in three police officers being injured due to confrontations involving Legia Warsaw fans before Thursday’s Europa Conference League match.

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.”

Due to apprehensions about potential crowd disturbances, the Polish club’s ticket allocation was significantly reduced to just under 1,000. Despite this restriction, Legia fans without tickets expressed their determination to travel to Birmingham for the event.

“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.”

As Legia supporters marched toward Villa Park, they encountered a formidable presence of police officers equipped with helmets and visors for self-protection. The release of flares occurred as the fans were contained, triggering the incident that resulted in injuries to the police officers.

Throughout the match, the designated section of Villa Park, typically reserved for visiting fans, remained entirely vacant. Nevertheless, additional crowd disturbances unfolded outside the stadium. Videos circulating on social media depicted a group of Legia fans gathered in the street, hurling bottles toward 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.