Violence delays Lyon match as fans run for cover
Lyon’s quarter-final first leg against Besiktas was delayed by 45 minutes after fighting broke out in the stands at the Parc OL.
There were ugly clashes in the French city before the match and they continued inside the ground, with projectiles and firecrackers raining down from the upper tiers, forcing supporters below on to the pitch. The two teams had begun to warm up, but they returned to their dressing rooms as supporters clashed behind one of the goals.
Lyon’s president, Jean-Michel Aulas, went into the crowd in an effort to calm supporters ahead of a match that had already been labelled as ‘high-risk’, with 500 police – double the usual number – on duty.
After all members of the crowd had left the playing surface, Lyon tweeted that a revised start time would be announced “in several minutes”, later saying a second warm-up was imminent. When the players emerged for the second warm-up they applauded the crowd, before the game finally kicked off at 8.50pm BST. When the game did finally start Lyon won 2-1 after scoring twice in the final seven minutes.
It was the third incident at a European game this week, after the attack on the Borussia Dortmund team coach on Tuesday and clashes between Leicester supporters and police in Madrid, with Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp admitting he saw “the shock in the eyes” of his former Dortmund players.
“In the interviews after the game I could see the faces of my former players and I saw shock in their eyes and that was really difficult to play the game,” said the German.
The attack on the Dortmund bus meant Manchester United were at the centre of a huge security operation last night, as the Belgian police and authorities, already on a heightened state of alert following last year’s terrorists attacks in Brussels when 32 people were killed, took no chances ahead of kick-off against Anderlecht.
There was a ring of steel around the Constant Vanden Stock stadium with armed police and extra security clearly visible, and the game passed without incident.