Beyond the sporting expectation, the match between Barça and PSG in the Champions League quarterfinals will also be surrounded by an extensive security device due to the 2,600 Parisian fans who will travel to the Catalan capital and the terrorist threat launched by the State. Islamic before the first leg in Paris.
“It is an event with a global media projection with a large crowd. This is why it is a special point of interest. There is a desire to sow panic,” the Minister of the Interior of the Generalitat, Joan Ignasi Elena, told RAC1 in El Món. which, however, assured that “there is only a risk of an individual attack and not of organized networks.” “We are in the best hands. The issue concerns us, but let’s not fall into the trap of panic,” he added.
The match will be protected by a large deployment controlled by more than 350 Mossos d’Esquadra agents. In addition, surveillance around the Montjuïc stadium will also be aerial with the presence of various drones and a police helicopter.
The device will have special attention on the approximately 400 radical fans of the French team who have traveled to Barcelona. The ultras, according to the security forces, will be under surveillance from their arrival in the city of Barcelona.
This most conflictive sector of the PSG fans, who will be accompanied by the police on their way to Montjuïc, will be the first to enter the stadium so that they do not mix with the rest of the fans and thus avoid incidents. However, at the end of the match he will be the last to leave the venue. The Mossos have managed the device in collaboration with the National Police, Barça security members and the Urban Police.
Regarding the terrorist threat, the alert level four out of five is maintained. In this way, preventive and security measures will be accentuated with more resources, especially due to the international projection of the event. This has meant working with a large-scale device with the presence of GHG, Drones and Helix, in addition to other units common in this type of events.