AC Milan v Celtic to go ahead at San Siro

UEFA have confirmed the second leg of Celtic‘s Champions League clash against AC Milan will take place in the San Siro.

Capacity for the March 7 encounter will be limited but 4,500 seats will be reserved for Hoops fans.

The San Siro does not meet safety requirements introduced after the death of a policeman in violence before the Sicilian derby between Catania v Palermo earlier this month but work has started to bring it up to scratch.

Celtic said their allocation of 4,850 tickets remained in place but urged fans without tickets not to travel.

About 5,000 Hoops supporters are thought to have made plans to travel to Italy without being allocated a ticket by the club.

Celtic claimed the capacity would be about 40,000 but Milan hope to have this increased.

Chief executive Peter Lawwell told the club’s website, www.celticfc.net: “We are pleased that our supporters will be able to attend this match as initially planned and look forward to an exciting game in the San Siro.

“Celtic officials, together with representatives of Strathclyde Police, will be travelling to Italy to meet with AC Milan and the Italian authorities to ensure that we are satisfied with all arrangements put in place for this match.

“Club representatives have also been invited to attend the forthcoming Inter Milan v Valencia Champions League match on Wednesday to observe matchday arrangements.

“Celtic supporters have an impeccable record of behaviour and we are sure that our fans will play their part in making this match another great European occasion for the club.

“Again, the club would like to stress very strongly that Celtic supporters should not travel to Italy unless they have purchased a ticket through official Celtic FC channels.”

Peter Rafferty, president of the Affiliation of Registered Celtic Supporters` Clubs, was delighted the match would not be staged behind closed doors.

But he told Sky Sports News: “We have about 10,000 fans travelling so we‘ll see how that develops over the coming weeks.

“We have got a huge support, a worldwide support. We have got a lot of fans based in Europe as well so they tend to make their way to these games.”

Rafferty did not have major fears over going to Milan at a time when football violence dominates the Italian political agenda.

He said: “Our travelling support is on the whole very well behaved. It was a very sad incident but our fans weren‘t involved.

“We have got a very good reputation – that helps.”

And he was not sure the reduced capacity of home fans would benefit the Hoops.

He said: “We‘ll make a lot of noise but it‘s still a huge game and they are still a very very good team. If it‘s an advantage so be it.”

Only six stadia in Italy‘s Serie A and Serie B meet the security criteria enforced following the events in Catania which led to the death of policeman Filippo Raciti on February 2.

There were fears the second leg would be played in front of an empty stadium or be moved to a neutral venue, with St James‘ Park in Newcastle or the Stade de France in France mooted.

Celtic face Milan on Tuesday in front of a sell-out crowd at Parkhead in the first leg.