Manchester United want increased fan security at Barcelona
Monday 15 April 2019 18:07, UK
Manchester United’s security team travelled to Barcelona early to liaise with the club’s stewards and ensure fan safety at Tuesday night's Champions League tie.
United have sold their allocation of tickets for tomorrow night's match and fans are being encouraged to get to the ground in good time.
The FA will be sending out an observer, as is standard practise when English teams play away in Europe.
The Manchester United Supporters Trust said: "Following the accusations of improper conduct and alleged unprovoked attacks on fans of other English clubs by Barcelona stewards, M.U.S.T has worked with the Club to try and ensure our fans have a better experience.
"Recent communication and planning helped ensure our trips to cities such as Seville, Paris and Turin - where other English fans had been subjected to bad treatment - passed more favourably.
"M.U.S.T gathered information from other English supporter groups as well as other European fan groups through Football Supporters Europe.
"These were passed to United in advance of their visit to Barcelona and have resulted in better planning. Outcomes include 25 search lanes for our fans instead of the usual 5. These will be monitored by increased numbers of observers from United, the FA and UEFA.
"Similarly United are sending out a much larger staff contingent to handle the ticket collection too, given the larger than normal away end.
"However, we would still encourage supporters to arrive earlier than you may usually do, given the numerous stories of problems accessing the stadium and several instances where Barcelona appear to have changed the agreed plans and access routes on the day.
"We are also conscious that the large away allocation may mean that some travelling supporters may not have previous experience of policing and security that is very different from away matches in England. Please look out for your fellow supporters and help each other".Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side will need to overcome a one-nil first leg deficit in the Nou Camp if they are to set up a semi-final clash with Porto or Liverpool.
