Polish football club Legia Warsaw maintains that the club is not to blame in the riots after last Thursday’s Conference League match against AZ in Alkmaar. The club management even states that AZ and the Dutch authorities deliberately paint a colored picture of the events.
Legia Warsaw supporters would used a lot of violence both before and after the match. Before the match there was violence against AZ stewards and the police, a police spokesperson previously confirmed to NH. To ward off the rioters, batons and tear gas were used, which was taken from some officers.
Disturbances with Polish fans also broke out after the match and two Legia players, Josué Pesqueira and Radovan Pankov, were arrested on suspicion of assaulting an AZ steward. That happened at the players bus.
Included in selection
The two are later released, but remain suspects in the case. They are by their trainer included in the selection for today’s match, at 5:30 PM against Rakow Czetochowa.
“In our opinion, it is crystal clear that the story in the statement from the Dutch side has one goal,” writes Legia Warschau (among other things in Dutch) on its website. “Mixing the truth with lies. Legia Warsaw is blamed for the lack of professionalism in the organization of UEFA competitions.”
The club emphasizes that it will do everything it can to ‘completely clarify’ the matter and ‘defend the honor of the club, the players and employees on the basis of facts’.
Polish politics are stirring
The events have caused much outrage in Poland. Even Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki made himself heard. He was talking about it ‘very disturbing images’ who came from Alkmaar.
Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski spoke yesterday in Warsaw with Dutch Ambassador Daphne Bergsman. In that conversation he again pressed for an investigation.