Eberl expects a surprise
Arsenal threatens Bayern fans and their own members
April 9, 2024, 10:24 a.m
When FC Bayern Munich plays in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in London this evening, it will have to do so without the support of its own fans. The reason is a ban. The hosts want to enforce this consistently – and also threaten their own supporters. There are historical reasons for this.
FC Bayern Munich has to start its Champions League mission against FC Arsenal badly: In the Bundesliga, the supposedly dethroned champions embarrassed themselves at promoted team Heidenheim, the atmosphere is bad and fans are not allowed to bring them along to support them.
The record champions’ supporters had set fires too often in the past; after a pyrotechnic incident in the round of 16 duel against Lazio, UEFA revoked a suspended sentence. The consequence: When the Bayern professionals in the evening (9 p.m. / Amazon Prime Video and in the live ticker on ntv.de) If you want to keep hopes of reaching the Champions League semi-finals high at the Emirates Stadium, the fans have to stay outside.
And the hosts will do everything in their power to implement this penalty consistently. Only 200 tickets for the game went to Munich; they will probably be distributed to sponsors and guests of honor. As “Bild” reports, even the players who would have liked to have friends and relatives with them largely left empty-handed.
“Explicit notice” from London
Back in March, FC Bayern had already informed its fans about an unmistakable announcement from the British: “FC Arsenal has expressly informed FC Bayern that all supporters of the German record champions will be at the entrance to the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final on April 9th in London must be consistently rejected,” the club said in a statement.
At Arsenal, they have bad memories of the last time a Bundesliga team got too few tickets for a European Cup game in their own stadium: in 2017, thousands of Cologne fans got tickets for a Europa League game at the Emirates Stadium through various channels, which led to tumult clashes before the game. The situation escalated so much that kick-off was delayed by an hour as an overwhelming number of Cologne fans flocked to north London, even though they had only been officially allocated 3,000 tickets.
In response, Arsenal has now taken measures to avoid fresh bad memories: the club has stopped selling tickets to new members who only registered for ticket voting after the quarter-final draw on March 11th.
Eberl “wouldn’t be surprised”
“There is an additional risk in this game because Bayern does not have an away contingent available,” those responsible now warned their own fans: “Every season ticket holder or every Arsenal member whose ticket is in the possession of an away fan will be banned indefinitely. “
Despite everything, Bayern’s sports director Max Eberl is skeptical that the measures taken by UEFA and the hosts can have their full effect: “I’ve experienced it a few times at other locations that fans weren’t actually allowed to travel,” explained Eberl according to “Kicker” before starting the journey: “And then you were surprised when you scored a goal how many people sympathized with you. So I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.”
During the game in Heidenheim, the Bayern fans had already defiantly announced on a banner: “We’re going to London anyway! Wembley calling – F*CK UEFA”. Loosely translated: Of course, despite the ban, people will still go to London. If not now, then at the beginning of June. Then the Champions League final will take place in the English capital at Wembley Stadium.