Arsenal news: Cologne blame Gunners for Emirates Stadium chaos

ARSENAL and the Metropolitan Police were yesterday accused by Cologne of “not being adequately prepared” for Thursday night’s delayed Europa League match.

Cologne fansGETTY

Cologne fans inside the Emirates

UEFA yesterday all but exonerated the Premier League club over the crowd safety issues surrounding the match when 20,000 fans arrived for the game – well above the club’s 3,000-ticket allocation – with the kick-off held back for order to be restored outside the ground.

In a statement, however, Cologne criticised the London club for refusing to accept their request for more tickets and accused Arsenal fans of charging “horrendous” prices on the black market for seats in the home end.

“Due to the enormous demand for tickets, it would have been sensible, not least for security reasons, to allow more than the allocated 5 per cent of stadium capacity to guest fans,” Cologne said in a statement.

“It was apparent that thousands of people from Cologne would get tickets in every way possible – one such was would be through the help of Arsenal supporters, some as gifts but some also for horrendous prices.

“Despite the tremendous experience of both the London security forces and Arsenal as a permanent partaker in European football, the organisers were unfortunately not adequately prepared for the task.”

Cologne also distanced themselves from “so-called disturbers” after they were charged by UEFA with crowd disturbances, setting off fireworks, throwing objects and causing acts of damage.

At the same time, Arsenal face only mild censure because stairways were blocked in the away supporters’ sector, with the club estimating in total that 7,000 away fans eventually made it into the game.

Nevertheless, an internal investigation will now take place and Arsenal have vowed to cancel the membership of supporters found to have sold tickets to touts which ended up in German hands.

They also vigorously denied that tickets had been bought after Cologne fans joined the Arsenal membership scheme, insisting that those registering after the draw had not been eligible.

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