UNDER ATTACK
Video reveals how City bus was besieged
Damning footage has emerged from inside manchester City’s coach as it was attacked by Liverpool fans before Wednesday night’s Champions League clash.
The disturbing four-minute clip raises serious questions for merseyside Police and the anfield club, who were charged by UEFa yesterday.
The video plays out to an incessant thud of missiles striking the vehicle as it crawls towards the stadium through a baying mob, with those aboard slating police for a lack of action.
Passengers on the bus can be heard saying: ‘i hope we beat them 20-0. i hope FiFa fine them, f****** scumbags. Why don’t the police just hit them with sticks.’
SHOCKING new details have emerged about the attack by Liverpool supporters on the Manchester City team coach before Wednesday’s Champions League match at Anfield.
Liverpool have been charged by UefA following shameful scenes that left the bus carrying Pep Guardiola and his players damaged so badly that it was not able to take the City squad home.
And last night disturbing new footage was posted online that shows how quickly the trouble escalated as City approached the Liverpool fans lining streets near the stadium.
The four-minute video is notable for the almost constant thud of objects striking the bus’s windows and bodywork. The bus is hit dozens of times, with beer cans flying through the haze of red pyrotechnic smoke to crash into the front windscreen.
This undermines any notion that the attack was the work of only a handful of thugs.
As the situation deteriorates, conversations between the driver and City staff can be heard.
Someone says: ‘They (Liverpool) knew this was going to happen.’
Another adds: ‘ We will have to get a new coach for going home. They are f****** scumbags. I hope the world is seeing this. It is the s******* city in england.’
Reference is made to beating Liverpool 20-0.
The bus was left with a smashed side window and damage to the front window. The driver says on the film: ‘That one has a hole in it but it won’t go through. It is designed to protect people inside. But it has shattered the outside. I can’t see out of that one.’
Sportsmail can reveal the City team bus was also attacked as it left Anfield after a Premier League defeat in April 2014.
A source who was on board that day said: ‘It was terrifying. This brings those memories back.’
fears that City fans will attempt a revenge attack on the Liverpool coach will now be a key part of Greater Manchester Police’s planning for Tuesday’s return leg.
It can also be disclosed City’s players waited for 25 minutes after their 3-0 defeat in the same spot that their coach was targeted, while club medics raced to the aid of a female Liverpool supporter who had been struck in a suspected hit-and-run. Guardiola and his players sat patiently on the replacement bus close to the Arkles pub — scene of the flashpoint — while club staff tended to the injured woman in the road.
City are grateful to Liverpool for their support in the aftermath of the attack. However, privately they are ‘deeply unhappy’ with Merseyside Police’s role in what unfolded, given what they feel was ample warning.
On March 19, Sportsmail revealed City would express their unease to police in Liverpool after it emerged supporters planned a hostile reception for their bus. A poster on social media urged fans to gather close to Anfield armed with ‘banners and bangers, pints and pyro’ to ‘scare ’em back to Mancland with their tails between their legs before the match even starts’.
On the morning of the match, Merseyside Police released a statement, shared by the club, advising that the route to be taken by both teams’ coaches had changed for safety reasons.
However, they deny that this encouraged the hostile scenes which followed. A source within the force pointed out that they did
not want to risk a surge from the original route to the new one once the change became public.
The source also said the logistics of anfield — which is surrounded for the most part by terraced houses — make it impossible to quietly usher coaches in.
While City did not wish to comment, senior officials feel not enough preparation was done, that the threat of trouble was not dealt with effectively and the situation could — and shouldould — have been avoided.
One well-placed City ty source said: ‘it looked d like a war zone. They did not have control of the situation. it was totally mismanaged and something you could see coming a mile off.’
Pep guardiola sarcastically ss thanked officials at anfield for their protection ection after getting off the damaged vehicle. Liverpool were charged by UEFa yesterday over their fans setting off fireworks, throwing objects, acts of damage and crowd disturbances. The case will not be heard until may 31.
The events will cause a headache for police in manchester for the second leg, although the Etihad Stadium has a tunnel under which away coaches arrive and that should prevent similar disorder. This is the latest chapter in an increasingly bitter rivalry between the clubs. When they met near the end of the 2013-14 season, the City bus was pelted with bottles and stones on the way out of anfield following a 3-2 defeat many thought had handed Liverpool the title. merseyside Police launched an investigation yesterday into the bus attack and appealed for camcamera phone footage. matcmatch commander Supt PauPaul White said: ‘ What shshould have been a ccelebratory event was sspoiled by a number of people who threw bottles, cans and pyrotechnics. Their actions will not be tolerated anand we will do everything thieverything in our power to put them before the courts. ‘We knowkn many people were filming the events with camera phones and ask that anyone with footage of the projectiles being thrown send it to a dedicated email address so that it can be reviewed: team.coach.incident@ merseyside.police.uk.’ mO SaLaH is likely to be fit for the second leg against City after a scan showed the groin injury which forced him off in the second half at anfield is not as bad as feared.