Fans furious as tickets for tie go missing

Chelsea have been flooded with complaints from fans after hundreds of tickets for tonight's game went missing.

The majority of the crowd for the sell-out clash had expected to receive pre-ordered tickets in the post last week. But it is understood that at least 200 tickets failed to arrive at their destinations, prompting fears they may have been stolen and re-sold on the black market.

Tonight's match is the biggest in Chelsea's history and tickets were today retailing on the internet for as much as £475 each.

Some fans believe the club are partly to blame for the problems because the return address of Chelsea's mail order company, Buster, is printed on the envelopes.

One season-ticket holder said: "I reckon they were nicked by someone who knows that Buster is associated with Chelsea and the envelope would contain tickets. My tickets for the Stuttgart game also disappeared."

A Chelsea spokesman said: "If we are sending out 34,000 tickets, then we are going to have whatever regular problems that occur with such a task. We are dealing with the issue. Anyone in this position is urged to contact the club and then get to the ground as early as possible this evening."

Chelsea will provide duplicates as long as fans contact the club ahead of tonight's game.