Ticketless Rangers fans told to stay away from Allianz Stadion

Rapid Vienna chiefs have told Rangers supporters to stay away from the Allianz Stadion if they do not have tickets for Thursday's vital Europa League clash.

The Ibrox club have been given an official allocation of 2,500 seats as Steven Gerrard's side go in search of the victory that will see them through to the last 32.

But more than 10,000 fans have reportedly made the journey to the Austrian capital, leaving local authorities worried that some may try to source briefs for the home end.

Rapid only need a point to clinch their own progress from Group G and club bosses have announced they have sold out its 23,850 capacity for the first time since the stadium's opening match back in 2016.

The club's service chief Andreas Marek confirmed a small number of tickets may be available on secondary-ticketing sites.

However, he warned members of Light Blues faithful who don't have their hands on an official ticket to give the Allianz a wide berth.

The game is completely sold out,'' said Marek.It's just unbelievable how much demand there was for the tickets.

We are happy about this and looking forward to the game - but we must make it clear there won't be any people about the stadium selling tickets before the match.

This is very important. This is not like other places where there is a black market for tickets. A real Rapid fan won't sell his ticket to a Scottish fan.

So the Rangers fans shouldn't come without a ticket because there won't be any available at the stadium.''

Rapid bosses have also held security meetings with their Gers counterparts and Marek says he is confident the club's security plan can handle the influx of fans from Glasgow.

He said: We have a plan set up for tomorrow.

We try all we can do. There are some small numbers of supporters who will come to Vienna. We've heard numbers between 2,000 with tickets and 12,000 without tickets.

We don't really know but we were talking yesterday with the officials from Rangers and they were telling us it won't be such a big crowd.

However, there will be some who do come to the stadium so we have prepared everything.

It's always positive when a stadium is full, but we know the situation. The Rangers want to come to Vienna, to see the match but we've heard many don't have tickets.

It's a situation for us that is a little bit strange but we will act together with the security, with the police and the officials from the club to find a good solution.'

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