UEFA responds to Islamic State threats towards the Champions League quarter-finals. Thousands of soldiers will guard the matches in Spain

This Monday, the Islamic State terrorist organisation published a threatening poster showing the four European stadiums where the opening matches of the Champions League quarter-finals will take place in the coming days. Spanish daily La Razón reported the news, and UEFA has already issued an official statement.

Santiago Bernabeu, Metropolitano, Emirates Stadium and Parc des Princes. These four football stadiums are depicted in a threatening poster published by the Islamic State terrorist organization on Monday.

The first mentioned stadium will host the quarter-final match of the ongoing Champions League on Tuesday night, when home side Real Madrid clashes with Manchester City. At 21:00, the second quarter-final between Arsenal and Bayern will also kick off at the Emirates Stadium.

On Wednesday, the world’s most prestigious club competition moves to Spain and France respectively. Atlético Madrid will also face Dortmund in the quarter-finals at their stadium (Metropolitano). PSG will take on Barcelona at the same time at the Parc des Princes.

The Spanish government has, of course, already reacted to the threatening poster, which, incidentally, you can see in the attached post, including a statement from UEFA. It has activated the highest security measures for the Real match against Manchester City.

UEFA responds to Islamic State threats

“UEFA is aware of the alleged terrorist threats that have emerged this week and is working closely with the authorities at the relevant venues. All matches are scheduled to take place as planned and with appropriate security measures in place,” reads an official UEFA statement.

Both Champions League quarter-final matches on Spanish soil will be guarded by up to three thousand Spanish soldiers. This was reported by local daily La Razón.

The Spanish newspaper also recalls that the country is on level four anti-terrorism alert, the second highest.

“However, this is not the first time the Islamic State has threatened the football public. In October last year, a terrorist with Tunisian citizenship shot dead two Swedish football fans in Belgium, where he had unsuccessfully sought asylum, as they arrived for a World Cup qualifying match between Belgium and Sweden,” Czech news server Novinky.cz reports.

Source: UEFA, La Razón, Novinky.cz