Aston Villa outcry after 'horrendous' pictures of Club Brugge away end emerge
Aston Villa continue their Champions League adventure in Belgium this evening when they encounter Club Brugge at the Jan Breydel Stadium. Villa are three from three in their opening games of the newly formatted competition and seek to continue their perfect form against a side who have been conquered by Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan this term.
It's estimated that there'll be in the region of just under 1,500 Villa fans congregated in the away end on Wednesday, many of whom are travelling and many who are already sampling the local culture in the city itself having made a continental break of it.
What awaits them in the actual away end of the ground where they'll be watching Unai Emery's side in action later on has left many supporters puzzled and shocked by what they'll be encountering, however. AVFC Support, associated with Villa's official account, are advising on logistics of travel and the arrangements around ticket collection.
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They tweeted on Wednesday morning: "Supporters are advised that seats in the away section are NOT sequentially numbered, and they are in disrepair." They accompanied the post with a number of alarming photos of the seating in the away end, some of which have been smashed up and left with jagged edges. Many others are dirty.
One Villa supporter replied to the post: "Any club offering up facilities like this in Champions League shouldn’t be allowed in the competition. Shocking." Another asked: "The way some clubs treat away fans like animals never fails to annoy me. State of it. Villa don’t smash stuff up but our incredible away fans are having to put up with this tonight." Another fan added: "That’s horrendous, no standards? Cheek to charge for a ticket if that’s your seat."