Tight security for Croatia qualifier with England

Croatia and England will play their Euro 2008 Group E qualifier today amid tight security measures designed to prevent any crowd trouble.

Police have been under orders since yesterday morning to detain any trouble-makers, while traffic in the city centre will grind to a halt several hours before kick-off at 7 p.m. (Malta time).

England fans will be separated from home supporters well before they reach the stadium, while an extra 100 security stewards and 625 guards have been assigned to the game.

It will not be a full house at the 40,000-seater Maksimir stadium, as 10 per cent of the tickets have been held back to create a buffer zone between the rival fans.