At 10.00, four and a half hours before the start of the match, several Vålerenga supporters trooped up to the train station at Lillestrøm. There they were met by a large group from the police who refused them entry into Lillestrøm town. – A larger group of VIF supporters appeared, and there were signs that some could be aggressive. It was about more than 100 supporters who showed up on the train, operations manager Trond Lorentzen in the East police district tells Romerikes Blad. Sent the supporters back The operations manager says that they feared clashes between supporters, and that they therefore sent the Vålerenga supporters back to Oslo. A photo in the local newspaper Romerikes Blad shows eight police cars and two ambulances outside the train station at Lillestrøm on Sunday morning. – They probably wanted to march towards the stadium, but it is not desirable to have such groupings. To prevent disturbances, they have been put on a train back to the city, says Lorentzen. – The police have stopped a delegation at the station, confirms communications manager in Vy, Åge-Christoffer Lundby to news. When the train arrived at Lillestrøm, the train waited for the doors to open. When the supporters went out, the police were ready at the station. – The police have expressed a wish to take people from Lillestrøm to Oslo, and this was done on a train on line L1 towards Spikkestad. The train was then canceled for other passengers from Lillestrøm to Oslo, says Lundby to news. Sunday’s match was sold out in one hour, 10,500 spectators are expected at the Åråsen stadium. There is usually a large police presence and increased security before the matches between Lillestrøm and Vålerenga. POLICE: Visible police in the stands below between Lillestrøm and Vålerenga in May. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB This means that the away team’s supporters are encouraged to go one particular way to the stadium, so that the supporters do not meet. Tagging tonight The atmosphere between the teams is fiery, especially after the shock transfer to Geir Bakke this summer. The long-standing Lillestrøm coach signed for Vålerenga, which made the yellows from Romerike furious. CHANGED JOB: Geir Bakke celebrates here for a 4-3 win with Lillestrøm against Vålerenga this spring. Now he coaches Vålerenga. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB – Although these are two rival clubs, I am actually yellow and blue. It is quite difficult to swallow for quite a few people on both fronts, Geir Bakke told the press at the time. It created reactions: Operations manager Trond Lorentzen tells VG that there has so far been no noise in the city. – There have been cases of banners being hung up yesterday. So there has been some tagging last night. We take into account that there may be challenges. We have a lot of crew at work to deal with any incidents, he says to VG.
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