Rangers Condemn Crowd Trouble During Unirea Urziceni Clash

Rangers could be in hot water with UEFA after their Champions League draw with Unirea Urziceni was marred by yet more crowd trouble.

The Light Blues are already being monitored closely by the powers that be, having been involved in trouble in the past few seasons, and this may well be the last straw.

Visiting supporters were seen throwing chairs and other missiles at police and stewards, before punches were thrown.

Rangers chief executive Martin Bain condemned the "unacceptable'' behavior, although he also criticized the Romanian police.

Bain claimed a promise that four turnstiles would be open for visiting fans was not kept, causing problems which were compounded, he claimed, by police using CS gas against angered Light Blues' supporters.

He said on Rangers' official website: "Obviously the behavior of some of the fans inside the stadium was unacceptable and no-one likes to see that.

"However, what was equally unacceptable was the fact that Rangers came to this stadium with representatives from UEFA and Unirea a number of weeks ago and arranged for the four turnstiles to be open to give access to our supporters.

"When they arrived this evening there were only two turnstiles open which caused difficulty gaining access and fans then to be sprayed with CS gas is totally unacceptable. I will now make representation to UEFA in their behalf."

Andy Kerr, president of the Rangers Supporters Assembly, said it was a "minor incident".

"There was a bit of pressure at the front. Spray was used, which was used before the start of the match, and I think people reacted to that," he told Sky Sports News.

"I wouldn't say the Rangers fans did anything wrong. The organization was very poor. [Before the match] they had two cordons of barriers to let people through. They used the spray there on more than one occasion and people were quite distressed by that.

"We don't condone it, we don't want to see it, but the vast majority of people behaved impeccably.

"In the big scheme of things, [it's] a minor incident."

However, this is not an isolated occurrence. With fighting in Osasuna and the large disturbances in Manchester at the UEFA Cup final both fresh in the memory, Rangers will be left sweating to see if there are any sanctions taken against them.

Andrew Southwick, Goal.com UK

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