West Midlands Police have disclosed plans on how they plan to oversee the upcoming Champions League match between Aston Villa and Celtic next Wednesday.
Superintendent Jack Hadley, match commander for the ‘Battle of Britain’ showdown at Villa Park, has outlined how the game will be policed, as thousands of home and away fans plan to descend on Birmingham in the coming days.
In a statement made on Saturday from West Midlands Police, Hadley said: “We’re looking forward to another great Champions League occasion here in Birmingham.
“We are anticipating a large number of people coming into the city and we want everyone to enjoy what it has to offer.
“We’ll have additional officers in and around the city centre and as a police force we are used to dealing with large events such as high-profile football matches.
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“We’ll have plans in place to allow fans to savour the occasion, and city, and keep the wider public safe.”
Celtic travel to Birmingham after enjoying a free weekend due to Storm Eowyn damaging Celtic Park, which caused a late postponement to the game between themselves and Dundee.
Brendan Rodgers’ side are already through to the Champions League playoffs after their win on Wednesday versus Young Boys. They face Unai Emery’s Aston Villa on Matchday Eight, who lost last time out in Europe to Monaco.
The Spain manager’s side currently sits ninth in the table, level on points with Bayer Leverkusen, who occupy the final automatic qualification spot in ninth position. Emery has previously faced Celtic as manager of both Spartak Moscow and Paris Saint-Germain in the past.
Aston Villa next take on West Ham United in the English Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
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