With the Europa League Final kicking off on Wednesday, reports in Spain are suggesting that Spanish police will have over 5,500 constabularies ready for what the Police Commissioner described as "the most complicated game in recent years".
Both sides have been notorious for their behaviour across Europe over the years and police in Seville are taking no chances with safety procedures.
Diario de Seville are reporting that there will be more than 5,500 agents from the National Police, Local and Civil Guard. Policemen from Qatar who are training for high risk games ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup have also been drafted in to help with expected crowd trouble.
Along with the thousands of officers on the ground, there is also aerial surveillance with drones and helicopters on hand to help Spanish police.
Why are the police expecting chaos at the Europa League Final?
Rangers haven't been to a European final since 2008, where they managed to cause mayhem in Manchester during their UEFA Cup final game against Zenit St Petersburg. An estimated 200,000 Rangers fans arrived to Manchester and caused injuries to 39 police officers, leading to a number of arrests.
This time around, an expected 100,000 fans are expected to travel to Seville from Glasgow where they will meet an estimated 50,000 chaotic Eintracht Frankfurt fans.
The German side made headlines in recent weeks for all the wrong reasons, as their fans attacked and assaulted a number of West Ham supporters.
Eintracht Frankfurt fans can be seen throwing bottles and chairs at a group of West Ham fans in the video below.
Ticket Allocations for the Europa League Final
With both teams being given just 9,500 tickets each for the Europa League Final, that leaves an estimated 130,000 fans without access to the stadium. Juan Carlos Castro the Chief Commissioner of the National Police described it as "outrageous".
The commissioner added;
"There are already many fans, who were in the bars, and when closing time came, they did not want to leave. So they have made a ruckus, all peaceful at the moment, but they are nuisances"
With temperatures expected to rise to almost 40 degrees, the combination of alcohol, sun and two sets of historically ill-behaved fans is bound to cause serious trouble for Spanish law enforcement.
"If they drink hot beer in their countries, when they drink it cold here, they will drink even more."
"We are receiving information from the Scottish Police that there are many citizens who have taken the entire week of vacation and have come to Spain, to areas where it is common for them to spend the summer and even have houses, such as the Costa del Sol, to then travel to Seville on the day of the match," said the head of the Citizen Security .
Street furniture has been removed from areas around the fan zones and only low percentage beers will be available in the majority of these places.
There will be no alcohol permitted in the stadium either, but enforcing this will prove to be a massive challenge for the police.
Seville under construction
A major worry for the police is that large areas of the city are under construction work which will give another problem of ready made projectiles being available. Many areas near the stadium including the tram line is under renovation.
Many narrow streets in the south of the city have been closed already to try and combat against the two sets of fans meeting.
It is also worth noting that Seville hosted the Copa Del Rey final with relative ease earlier this year, but the Europa League Final is without a doubt going to be a bigger challenge.
See Also: The Pleas For Rangers Fans To Behave In Seville Roll In As Supporters Kicked Off Flight
