New footage has emerged showing the extensive damage Gent fans caused at Stamford Bridge during their side’s defeat at Chelsea on Thursday.
The Blues continued their bright start under Enzo Maresca with a 4-2 win over the Belgian side in the Conference League
But the action off the field often threatened to eclipse the exhibition of creative football on it, with frequent verbal exchanges between the sets of supporters at times boiling over into more serious incidents.
A new aerial footage of Stamford Bridge shows the full extent done by Gent fans, with seats missing from almost an entire row.
It comes after Gent fans were pictured throwing seats as well as ripping up banners affixed to the stands.
New images from Stamford Bridge show nearly an entire row of seats were torn out by Gent supporters
Gent fans ‘threw chairs’ and ‘ripped up banners’ in the stands at Stamford Bridge as their side slumped to a 4-2 defeat
The action off the field often threatened to eclipse the exhibition of creative football on it
While the away supporters could be heard all match, the chants seemed generally benign. At one point, Chelsea fans seemed to respond to their counterparts’ celebration of holding their phones aloft with the torch on with the rebuttal, ‘What the f***ing hell is that?’
They then further mocked the Gent following by doing the same gesture with their devices after their side scored.
The more unpleasant scenes in the stadium picked up on a hectic atmosphere created pre-match, where the Belgian visitors could be seen bringing plush west London streets to a standstill as they marched along the roads.
The Gent fans lit flares and chanted at passersby in Parsons Green and Fulham as they got themselves in the mood for the big clash at Stamford Bridge.
With police watching helplessly on, a red glow created by the various pyrotechnics made its way down the normally tranquil neighbourhood in the capital.
Fans waved their scarves above their heads and danced in the middle of the road as cyclists tried to weave between the various members of the march and buses were brought to a complete halt.
They eventually saw their side get turned over by an energetic Chelsea outfit, filled with players hoping to get into the manager’s plans.
The more unpleasant scenes in the stadium picked up on a hectic atmosphere created pre-match (credit: anthony celentano on X)
The Blues continued their bright start under Enzo Maresca with a win over the Belgian side
After a flurry of early chances Chelsea, who struggled through a play-off round against Serviette to be here, found an opener through Renato Veiga who bagged his first goal for the club thanks to a tidy header at the back post.
Emphatic finishes from Pedro Neto and Christopher Nkunku came either side of a Tsuyoshi Watanabe strike against the run of play, before Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall raced into the box to add a fourth.
Chelsea will return to Stamford Bridge on Sunday when they host Nottingham Forest.