The political situation in Ukraine has been, least to say, turmoiled for some time now. Even without these developments, Ukrainian football is not oblivious to hooliganism.
It didn’t come as a surprise that there were fears that Manchester United fans could be targeted by local gangs when they were going to be in Odessa for the club’s final Europa League group fixture on Thursday night.
As a result, United wrote to the supporters who had bought tickets for the match against the Ukrainian side Zorya Luhansk, warning them of a threat in the region, which could be only increased by “political sensitivity in the region”.