The Europa League may technically be the competition below the Champions League, but fans of the participating clubs are still overflowing with passion.
Thursday, English giants Arsenal and FC Koln of the German Bundesliga met up for a group stage clash in London in the Europa League. Traditionally, traveling soccer fans are only given access to away section seating, which depending on the home stadium, can mean that the away fans can be outnumbered by 8-to-1. According to reports, to bypass the away section ticket purchasing rules, fans of FC Koln purchased Arsenal memberships, granting them access to home tickets and even showed up wearing Gunners jerseys.
The end result? Arsenal's home grounds, Emirates Stadium, which has a capacity of 60,000, had an estimated 20,000 FC Koln fans in the building, even though only 3,000 away tickets were sold. Creating a raucous atmosphere. Just take a look at Cologne fans marching to the stadium.
Due to the influx of away supporters in the streets of North London, kick-off for the game was delayed by an hour, and once it started, FC Koln fans continued to dominate decibel meters.
Although there were reports of violence and vandalism on the evening, it wasn't all negative, as fans of both clubs were recorded peacefully exchanging songs with one another in the home end of the Emirates.
In the end, Arsenal won 3-1, much to the dismay of the home away from home crowd of 20,000.
