Valencia, Feb 19 (IANS) Spanish La Liga football club Valencia are waiting anxiously to see if they will have to travel to Kiev Wednesday to play their Europe League tie against Dynamo Kiev Thursday.
Valencia were due to fly to the Ukraine at around 13.00 hours local time, but the game has been put in doubt by the latest outbreak of protest which has seen over 20 deaths in clashes between anti-government demonstrators and riot police on the streets of Kiev, reports Xinhua.
The Spanish club has been in constant contact with UEFA and with the Spanish Embassy in the Ukraine regarding the situation.
As things stand Valencia are continuing as if the game will go ahead and coach Juan Antonio Pizzi has named his 18-man squad for the game, but the club has already communicated its worries about security and the safety of any of the club’s fans who could travel to watch the game.
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UEFA had said at the start of February that the game would go ahead as planned and emitted a message saying the security around the game was guaranteed, however, the last 48 hours have seen the situation deteriorate considerably, although the incidents are mainly concentrated in the Independence Square.
UEFA has had a team of observers working in Kiev for the past week, where they are monitoring the situation, but it is possible that the Valencia squad could find themselves boarding their plane without knowing whether or not the game could be cancelled.
One thing that Spanish club has insisted on according to local media is that UEFA not only certifies the security of the football game that is due to be played in the Olympic Stadium Thursday, but of the entire trip.
The situation has divided the opinion of some of the Valencia players with midfielder Dani Parejo telling local newspaper ‘Las Provincias’ it is “incredible that we are going to play in Kiev with everything that is happening there.”
Meanwhile, full back Juan Bernat commented: “We are thinking about the game. We know what is happening in Kiev, but if UEFA have not changed the game, it is because they can guarantee our safety.”
