Crystal Palace fans celebrate shooting down of ’10 Russian drones’ during Conference League win against Ukrainian opposition in neighbouring Poland
Crystal Palace fans led a chant celebrating the downing of Russian drones as the Eagles took on Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv in the Conference League on Thursday night.
Palace were playing their first-ever European match proper, but the game was played away from Kyiv’s traditional home due to Ukraine’s ongoing conflict with Russia.
Rather than the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium, the game took place at the Arena Lublin in Poland, with thousands of Crystal Palace fans making the trip to cheer on their side.
They saw Oliver Glasner’s men get off to a winning start, too, with Daniel Munoz and Eddie Nketiah on the scoresheet as the Eagles eased to a 2-0 victory.
As the fans celebrated, though, they broke into song targeting Russia, who have been at war with Ukraine since invading the nation in February 2022.
Footage shared by Archie Rhind-Tutt of ESPN showed Palace fans chanting about Russian drones, singing: ‘There were eight Russian drones in the air’, then adding ‘Jean-Philippe Mateta shot them down.’
Crystal Palace fans celebrated the shooting of ’10 Russian drones’ during their Conference League clash against Ukrainian opposition
They added that striker ‘Jean-Philippe Mateta shot them down’ rather than NATO
The song was a variation of the ’10 German bombers’ made famous by England fans during international tournaments.
Last month, NATO shot down drones from Russia that were flying over Poland. Russia denied targeting the country, despite reports of debris damaging houses.
NATO, meanwhile, may soon make it easier to shoot down Russian aircraft after a wave of drone and fighter jet provocations on its eastern flank, one of the alliance’s top commanders has revealed.
Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chairman of NATO’s military committee, confirmed such a move was being considered but insisted it was too early to decide.
After a committee meeting, he said: ‘Considering that these [incursions] are pretty recent events, all of them are still [under] investigation, and of course, we still need a fundamental point, which is attribution, I would say it is still premature.
‘[Air defence] could be an option, depending on what will be the final assessment on what is being investigated right now. I would say that this could be one of the options but not the [only] option.’
Recent ‘hybrid attacks’ and Russian incursions have sparked outrage among European leaders, who have urged NATO to act more firmly.
Last week, Poland, which already brought down some of Vladimir Putin’s drones, vowed it would take down any hostile objects. It said it was considering fast-tracked laws that would give the military greater freedom to act.
Dynamo Kyev were playing at the Arena Lublin in Poland rather than their usual home stadium in Ukraine
Pictured: Explosions light up the sky during Russian drone and missile strikes
Eddie Nketiah was one of two players on the scoresheet as Oliver Glasner’s side got off to a winning start
Latvia’s president Edgars Rinkevics also said NATO must now move from ‘air policing’ to full ‘air defence.’ He told ERR, Estonia’s public broadcaster: ‘We currently rely only on the air policing mission. We need a shift in approach from air policing to an actual air defence mission.’
However, in a chilling warning, Russia warned that shooting down its planes would amount to a direct conflict with NATO.
Palace fans were also heard chanting: ‘F*** UEFA’ outside the ground on the back of having been relegated from the Europa League to the Conference League due to multi-club ownership rules.
