Local authorities in the city of Rennes have prohibited fans from wearing red and black ahead of Thursday's clash against AC Milan in a controversial move.
Milan go into the second leg of their Europa League knockout round play-off tie with a three goal lead after goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek [2] and Rafael Leao sealed a dominant win at the San Siro.
Rennes, meanwhile, will host hundreds of Milan fans in the French city. They have released a free online Italian-speaking city guide for the Rossoneri supporters, according to reports.
And in a much-talked about move, authorities in the Breton capital have banned fans from wearing the colours red and black – even though Ligue 1 side Rennes play in red and black.
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The measures were put in place on Wednesday afternoon and will run until midnight on Thursday because the game has been classified as “high risk”.
Authorities have justified the measure by pointing to recent incidents of violence involving Milan fans, including the stabbing of a Newcastle United fan.
A statement read: "From Wednesday February 21, 2024 at 3pm to Thursday February 22, 2024 at 11:59 pm, it is prohibited for any person claiming to be a supporter of the AC Milan club or behaving as such, to wear in particular a scarf, a badge, a piece of clothing or a flag in the colours of this club."
As you can see from the above, it states that AC Milan fans are banned from wearing the colours to Roazhon Park.
But many have raised the same question – how will they be able to implement the rule when both both teams play in red and black?
Stefano Pioli, meanwhile, has warned his players about complacency ahead of Thursday's clash.
“The first leg gave us a very good advantage, but it is not over and another difficult match awaits us. We need to interpret it the right way, as above all Rennes are good on home turf,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
“We made some naïve errors that certainly penalised us and we analysed that match, but one off day cannot damage our overall progress.
“I don’t like the term squad rotation, but when you play this many games, you must pick the best line-up for that particular match.
“We are judged on our results, that is natural. But squad rotation is dangerous at the start of the season, not after several months together. I made changes at the start of the second half to get back into the game, but it was not the fault of the players I took off that we were losing, it was because we made errors in those situations.
“The change of players did not change the overall identity of the team, and overall we played below our capabilities.”
Jack Kenmare