Nick Ames
Just over an hour until kick-off at Villa Park and the scene is relatively calm, although not without a distinct undertone. The police presence here – more than 700 officers from 10 different forces – is vast, a large semi-circle of them stationed in the parkland behind Trinity Road. One woman was led away by police after carrying an Israel flag through the crowds outside; she was targeted by chants from among the numerous pro-Palestine protesters present, although there was no suggestion of any violence. A handful of other Israel flags have also been spotted. Police have been using dispersal orders when faced with the few minor…
Nick Ames
Just over an hour until kick-off at Villa Park and the scene is relatively calm, although not without a distinct undertone. The police presence here – more than 700 officers from 10 different forces – is vast, a large semi-circle of them stationed in the parkland behind Trinity Road. One woman was led away by police after carrying an Israel flag through the crowds outside; she was targeted by chants from among the numerous pro-Palestine protesters present, although there was no suggestion of any violence. A handful of other Israel flags have also been spotted. Police have been using dispersal orders when faced with the few minor altercations that have arisen so far. The insistent presence of YouTubers and influencers seems to be occupying as much of their time as anything.
Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
Team news (selected)
Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel-Aviv
Aston Villa: Martinez, Lindelof, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen, Bogarde, Onana, Sancho, Rogers, Guessand, Malen. Subs: Bizot, Oakley, Cash, Barkley, McGinn, Tielemans, Elliott, Buendia, Watkins, Digne, Kamara, Broggio.
Maccabi Tel-Aviv: Mishpati, Asante, Shlomo, Camara, Revivo, Madmon, Sissokho, Noy, Varela, Peretz, Davida. Subs: Gerafi, Melika, Heitor, Andrade, Jehezkel, Gropper, Ben Harush, Lederman, Abu Farkhi, Shahar, Ben Hamo, Nicolaescu.
Rangers v Roma
Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Souttar, Djiga, Aarons, Barron, Raskin, Meghoma, Moore, Gassama, Chermiti. Subs: Kelly, Wright, Diomande, Aasgaard, Cornelius, Cameron, Antman, Miovski, Fernandez, Rice, Curtis, Danilo.
Roma: Svilar, Mancini, Hermoso, N’Dicka, Celik, Cristante, El Aynaoui, Tsimikas, Soule, Pellegrini, Dovbyk. Subs: De Marzi, Gollini, Rensch, Kone, Ziolkowski, Wesley, Romano, Pisilli, Ghilardi, El Shaarawy.
Real Betis v Lyon
Real Betis: Valles, Ruibal, Llorente, Natan, Gomez, Roca, Fornals, Antony, Lo Celso, Ezzalzouli, Bakambu. Subs: Adrian, German Garcia, Bellerin, Bartra, Altimira, Avila, Amrabat, Riquelme, Deossa, Hernandez, Ortiz, Pablo Garcia.
Lyon: Greif, Maitland-Niles, Kluivert, Niakhate, Abner Vinicius, de Carvalho, Tessmann, Karabec, Merah, Molebe, Satriano. Subs: Descamps, Konan, Tagliafico, Sulc, Afonso Moreira, Mata, Morton, Barisic, Goncalves.
Bologna v Brann
Bologna: Skorupski, Holm, Heggem, Lucumi, Lykogiannis, Moro, Ferguson, Bernardeschi, Fabbian, Cambiaghi, Castro. Subs: Ravaglia, Pessina, Pobega, Orsolini, Rowe, Casale, Zortea, Odgaard, Dallinga, Miranda, Vitik.
Brann: Dyngeland, De Roeve, Helland, Sery Larsen, Dragsnes, Kornvig, Sorensen, Gudmundsson, Mathisen, Finne, Haaland. Subs: Bramel, Knudsen, Boakye, Hansen, Castro, Soltvedt, Pedersen, Sande, Laegreid, Remmem.
Stuttgart v Feyenoord
Stuttgart: Nubel, Jeltsch, Jaquez, Chabot, Mittelstadt, Andres, Stiller, Assignon, El Khannous, Tomas, Undav. Subs: Bredlow, Hellstern, Hendriks, Vagnoman, Fuhrich, Karazor, Leweling, Zagadou, Bouanani, Nartey, Catovic, Jovanovic.
Feyenoord: Wellenreuther, Read, Ahmedhodzic, Watanabe, Smal, Timber, Larin, Valente, Hadj Moussa, Ueda, Borges. Subs: Berger, Bossin, Nieuwkoop, Sauer, Tengstedt, Diarra, Lotomba, Sliti, Plug, Kraaijeveld, van den Elshout.
Preamble
We are here because we love association football, but sport does not exist in a vacuum. Sometimes it can be caught in the crosshairs of something larger and that is certainly the case tonight.
This is a football liveblog, and we have nine Europa League 8pm GMT kick-offs to follow, of which Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv is one. My focus is on the football but I will also bring you any notable developments around the fringes of Villa Park, should there be any.
In case you are catching up on the controversy around Villa v Maccabi, and the ban on the visiting fans, here is some useful reading, in rough chronological order.
Despite the ban and Maccabi not accepting any tickets, tensions around the match remains high. Villa have warned supporters against displaying political symbols, messages or flags during the match. Protesters stood at the entrance of Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground this week displaying a Palestine flag and a rally scheduled on Thursday in support of Palestine and calling for Israel to be suspended from Uefa and Fifa. Residents local to Villa Park have expressed their anxiety before the match.
On Wednesday evening West Midlands police confirmed section 60 powers will be in place from midday on Thursday until 3am on Friday. Police horses, police dogs and a drone unit will be in use. Schools in Birmingham are closing early amid fears of unrest.
Away from Villa Park, there is eight other late kick-offs to be excited about: especially Rangers v Roma and Real Betis v Lyon. I only have two hands to type but I’ll do my best to keep you abreast of all the goals from around the continent.
Photograph: Guardian