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Manchester City FC fans gather near stadium in Moscow ahead of CSKA game

Champions League’s match between CSKA Moscow and Manchester United will be held on Tuesday night in Moscow

MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. Manchester City FC fans will not be supporting their team from Moscow bars watching the club’s away game against CSKA Moscow FC on television screens, but will gather outside the Arena Khimki to greet England’s players.

Champions League’s match between CSKA Moscow and Manchester United will be held on Tuesday night in Moscow in front of the stadium’s empty stands for spectators due to earlier imposed penalties on the Moscow football club by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

Talking to a TASS correspondent, Manchester City fans said they earlier attempted to rent a space in a business center, which is located near the stadium and has a good view on the pitch, but they failed.

However, they said, they were not going to hide in sports bars and will gather near the stadium before the match, which kicks off at 8:00pm Moscow time (4:00pm GMT), and will render loud greetings to their club’s players as they would arrive at the stadium.

On October 3, UEFA imposed a set of sanctions against the Russian club over its supporters misconduct during the match against AS Rome. The football organization ordered CSKA to play their next three UEFA competition home matches behind closed doors. In addition, the club was fined €200,000 (over $253,000).

UEFA also announced that the club was “banned from selling tickets to their fans for the next two UEFA Champions League group stage games, which the club will play as the visiting side.”

The match against AS Roma, which ended with CSKA’s crushing 1-5 defeat, was held on September 17 in the Italian capital. CSKA Moscow’s fans began casting flares starting after the 71st minute of the match and also attempted to force their way to another sector of the stadium from the one where they were seated.

The Russian club’s fans also entered a scuffle with AS Roma fans before the match but police managed to disperse the fighting parties. Two of CSKA fans were detained by police before the game and 15 more after the match.

UEFA also accused CSKA fans of unfolding a banner during the match that allegedly contained a race-hate instigation statement.

UEFA’s October 3 set of penalties followed previous sanctions against CSKA as the club was earlier ordered by UEFA to play its Champions League’s Group E match against Bayern Munich FC in late September in empty arena in Moscow. UEFA’s order was issued following CSKA’s fans poor behavior last December during the match against Viktoria Plzen FC.