Celtic and Villa fans arrested as violent disorder and assaults 'tarnish' Champion League game

West Midlands Police officers teamed up with Police Scotland's football unit to police the Champion League event, with the police team including police horses, police dogs, and officers from a range of units and departments. 

Out of 21 people arrested across Birmingham during the match, 19 of those were Celtic fans, while two were Aston Villa fans. 

The 21 were arrested for a variety of offences, including violent disorder, assaults, possession of Class A drugs, throwing pyrotechnics onto the pitch and having fraudulent tickets. 

Superintendent Jack Hadley, who led the joint operation, said: "Last night we welcomed Celtic fans to Birmingham for the Champions League game against Aston Villa. It was really great to have such a large number of visitors in our city. We put on a large policing operation to ensure all our visitors were safe.

“We had numerous resources on duty from motorbikes, dogs, public order officers and we’re especially proud to have horses back for yesterday’s policing operation. They were a really versatile tool for us to use to engage with the Digbeth community yesterday afternoon, but also to support public order officers at Villa Park last night.

“It’s been really great to welcome Celtic supporters to our city. We’ve met some great people and had some really good engagements with people who have come and said hello to us. 

"We’ve had a number of arrests for offences across the city but overall we’re really pleased with how last night has gone. We look forward to meeting more football fans visiting our city in the near future."

As part of the joint policing effort, officers also utilised drone teams, traffic police and motorcycle officers.