Greater Manchester Police have announced that they will deploy hundreds of police officers around Manchester for ManUnited's Europa League group game with Feyenoord, amid fears that the away fans will cause trouble around the city.
Feyenoord's supportersare notoriously known for having a branch of hooligans among themand reports in theMailsuggest that police are on red alert, with the expectation that there could well be trouble ahead ofThursday's match.
Greater Manchester Police are expecting nearly 7,500 Feyenoord fans to travel to the city and it is understood that as many as 4000 have made the trip without having a ticket for the match.
Police fears have grown after footage emerged last week of a violentclash between the Dutch club's supporters and Nancy fans, in a woodland area of Rotterdam several years ago.
Feyenoord were previously thrown out of thecompetition in 2006for crowd trouble and only last year were in hot water, after their fans caused chaos in Rome ahead of their team's Europa League matchwith Roma.
Fans de Feyenoord iluminan estadio y cantan YNWA a Tonny Vilhena cuya madre falleció esta semana https://t.co/mcq7q6jG5Q
The Police operation is expected to surpass the one that is typically utilised for United's home matches with bitter rivals Liverpool, which underlines the concerns surrounding the game on Thursday.
Efforts are being made to segregate Feyenoord supporters as much as is possible and those with tickets for the match, will be given wristbands in a bid to prevent hooligans entering the stadium.
The game itself could well prove pivotal, with the visitors currently joint top of Group A along with Fenerbahce. Defeat for United will spell the end of their qualification hopes, should Fenerbache win their clash with Zorya Luhansk.