Russian soccer clubs promise peace in Europe

MOSCOW: Moscow clubs are promising supporters will behave perfectly on Thursday when they resume European action after clashes involving Russian supporters in Spain in which a policeman died of a heart attack.

The violence between followers of Spartak Moscow and Athletic Bilbao on February 22 revived fears that hooliganism could mar the first World Cup hosted by Russia. It also echoed a brutal attack by muscle-bound Russians on English fans before the start of a Euro 2016 match in the French port city of Marseille that shocked the sporting world. The Marseille mayhem left 35 people injured — three of them seriously — and saw the Russians involved proclaim themselves champions of the thug world.

These are not the bragging rights World Cup organisers are proud of — and ones Moscow’s CSKA and Lokomotiv will want to shed on Thursday. CSKA will host French side Lyon while Lokomotiv travel away to Atletico Madrid for last 16 Europa League matches at which Russian fans’ behaviour may be as important as the result. The return of Russian supporters to Spain for Lokomotiv’s encounter against the red half of Madrid is being watched especially closely. The Russian Premier League leaders’ president Ilya Gerkus took pains to condemn the violence in Bilbao in which a policeman later died of a heart attack and insisted that Lokomotiv supporters were much better mannered.