Borussia Dortmund have criticised the “disproportionate measures” taken by the Italian authorities that means some of their fans will miss Wednesday’s Champions League match at Atalanta.
The Bundesliga club confirmed that some of their supporters had been denied entry to Italy, while others have been visited by the police at their accommodation.
In a statement,, external Dortmund said: “The club was not informed in advance about these disproportionate measures.
“The club is more than surprised by the scope and scale of the police measures taken. Measures of this kind and intensity have never before been taken in connection with Borussia Dortmund’s international away matches.”
The German giants added that they found the measures “incomprehensible” and questioned the “behaviour on the part of the authorities”.
On Tuesday, one of Dortmund’s supporter groups, external said the situation was “unprecedented” and as result a number of fans had “reluctantly decided to stay away from the match in Bergamo”.
Dortmund head into the second leg of their knockout play-off encounter with a 2-0 advantage from the first match in Germany.
The winners of the tie will meet either Arsenal or Bayern Munich in the last 16 of the competition.