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Manchester United have “taken the difficult decision” of charging Sevilla fans an extra £35 to subsidise their own travelling support.
United were angered when Champions League last-16 opponents Sevilla announced that fans travelling to the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium for the first leg of their clash would be charged £89.
Liverpool fans were charged £54 by the Spanish club in the group stage earlier in the competition, and United had been locked in negotiations to bring the price their fans will pay down to a similar figure.
Sevilla did not meet United’s demands however, and so the Red Devils have responded by charging Sevilla’s fans the same £89 for the second leg at Old Trafford, and using the surplus to subsidise the costs of their travelling supporters.
The club sent an email out to those who had earned tickets for the first leg in Spain in a ballot. The email reads:
‘Further to our recent confirmation that you were successful for the Sevilla away game, we wanted to inform you of a change in what you will be charged for this game.
‘In this instance we believe that our travelling supporters are unfairly being subjected to increased/excessive ticket prices from the host club. This view is shared generally amongst travelling supporters, and we have received lots of requests from individuals and supporter groups to intervene in this matter.
‘This has been raised with Sevilla, and internally, but ultimately Sevilla have not agreed to significantly lower the price of tickets for our fans to what we view as a reasonable level. Therefore we have taken the difficult decision to charge Sevilla fans for the return leg at Old Trafford the same amount as our fans have been charged for the away fixture.
‘We have decided to increase the ticket prices for Sevilla fans for the game at Old Trafford, and use this increase to subsidise our fans, as we want this to act as a deterrent to future opponents who look to increase ticket prices for our travelling supporters.
We will subsidise our travelling support by refunding the difference between the price charged (£89) and the price that was paid by Liverpool supporters in the Group Stage of this year’s competition (£54). The £35 difference will be refunded prior to the game taking place.
‘As a result of the changes to ticket prices for away fans, should we gain any additional revenue after having refunded our supporters, we will donate this to the Manchester United Foundation.
‘I hope you are looking forward to the game, and we will follow-up shortly with details of ticket collections.
‘Many thanks for your continued, loyal support.
