Wenger gives credit to 'very clever' Koln fans who filled Emirates Stadium

FC Koln supporters were to be allocated around 3,000 tickets for their team's first foray in European competition in 25 years, with the German outfit traveling away to the Emirates Stadium to take on Arsenal in Europa League action.

But the Koln fans who traveled to London numbered significantly more than 3,000, both outside the stadium and, to the surprise of the Gunners faithful, inside it, too.

Koln supporters were seen jumping and singing in every section of Arsenal's home ground, infiltrating sections meant for the home support. And, despite the trouble caused with facilitating their entrance into the stadium, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger still gave the away support credit for making the trip.

"They were very clever,'' Wenger said, as quoted by ESPN FC. "I don't know how they managed to infiltrate our fans and get everywhere but they did that very well. I don't know if they went through Arsenal membership, on the internet ... they did very well.''

Unrest and unruly behaviour in the buildup to the match saw kick-off delayed by an hour. While Wenger's side eventually prevailed 3-1, the moments leading up to the fixture had the French manager a bit worried.

"What was difficult for me was I had all kinds of plans to think about," Wenger explained. "Do we play tomorrow, at what time do we want to play? Do we play next week? It was all kinds of speculations that we had to analyse and see how we can deal with the situation.

"At some stage I thought they will not play the game. Because I can't see the police taking any risk. We live in a society of 100 percent security, and I thought they will never take a gamble to play this game when I saw the images around the stadium.

"But I must say, our supporters dealt well with the situation around the stadium as well."

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)