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European football’s governing body UEFA has said it is aware of a terror threat made regarding this week’s Champions League quarterfinal ties, but said the matches will still go ahead as planned.
A social media post, purporting to be from the Islamic State group, suggested it planned to attack the Champions League quarterfinal first-leg ties this week. On Tuesday, Arsenal host Bayern Munich in London and Real Madrid play Manchester City in Madrid, while on Wednesday, Paris Saint-Germain face Barcelona in Paris and Atlético Madrid host Borussia Dortmund, again in Madrid.
France’s interior ministry has confirmed an increased police presence will be in place in Paris on Wednesday in response to the threat, while Spain’s interior ministry said there will be over 2,000 extra security personnel in line with typical operations for a major football fixture.
“UEFA is aware of alleged terrorist threats made towards this week’s UEFA Champions League matches and is closely liaising with the authorities at the respective venues,” the governing body said in a statement to ESPN. “All matches are planned to go ahead as scheduled with appropriate security arrangements in place.”
ESPN has approached London’s Metropolitan Police for comment.
Spain’s interior ministry told ESPN in a statement: “The State Security agencies have designed an operational deployment in which more than 2,000 National Police and Civil Guard agents will participate, to which members of Madrid’s Municipal Police will be added, to ensure the correct development of the two sporting events taking place today [Tuesday] and tomorrow [Wednesday] in the capital.
“This deployment is coordinated and has the support provided for in the measures that, throughout the territory of the State, establishes the Anti-Terrorist Prevention, Protection and Response Plan for the current level 4 out of 5 of anti-terrorist alert, to which various measures have also been added to prevent these type of contingencies.”
Meanwhile, French media reported that the country’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said he is aware of the threat from Islamic State and has organised increased security measures.
“We have seen, amongst others, a message from the Islamic State which particularly targets stadiums, which isn’t new,” Darmanin told reporters on Tuesday. “The police chief, with whom I spoke very early this morning, has considerably reinforced security resources.”
PSG manager Luis Enrique referenced the terror threat in a news conference on Tuesday.
“Who isn’t worried or concerned by terrorist threats? I hope that it is something that we can control, that will only be a threat and nothing more,” Luis Enrique said.
Information from ESPN’s Alex Kirkland contributed to this report.