Police believe they may have saved a player from being seriously injured after darts and golf balls were confiscated from Manchester United supporters before their club's Carling Cup semi-final first leg at Manchester City on Tuesday.
A number of missiles were thrown on to the pitch during the game but officers from Greater Manchester police's football unit believe the situation could have been worse had security officials not adopted stringent checks at the turnstiles.
Information had reached the police that United supporters planned to smuggle red flares into the ground, in order to interrupt a pre-match routine at Eastlands in which the lights are turned off and a giant image of a blue moon is flashed into the stadium. Two flares were lit but several others were discovered during rigorous body checks that stopped a large number of fans getting into the stadium before kick-off. More seriously, several supporters were caught trying to smuggle darts, golf balls and other weapons into the ground.
Eighteen people were arrested – six home supporters, 11 United fans and one neutral – before, during and after a 2-1 win for City, courtesy of two goals from Carlos Tevez.
There were other flashpoints during the match, including the United left-back, Patrice Evra, being struck by a cigarette lighter as he went to take a throw-in. The Football Association's disciplinary department intends to write to City to see if they are confident of catching whoever was responsible and to determine whether there was anything more that could have been done to prevent the incident.
The FA has promised to monitor the return leg at Old Trafford next Wednesday, a match that could feature the return of Emmanuel Adebayor from compassionate leave. The striker is in Togo, following the machine-gun attack on the national team's bus in which three people were killed, before the start of the Africa Cup of Nations. City's manager, Roberto Mancini, has said his player "will be back in the next few days".
Adebayor, who has described the incident as "one of the worst experiences of my life", said last week that he could not contemplate when he would be able to play football again.
City are deciding whether to increase their interest in another former Arsenal player, Mathieu Flamini, after making contact with his current club, Milan, about a possible loan. Mancini is an admirer of the 25-year-old holding midfielder and has identified him among his possible transfer targets. Manchester City already have an abundance of players who can operate in that role, in front of the back four, including Patrick Vieira, Nigel de Jong, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta and Gareth Barry.
from guardian.co.uk
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