Aston Villa team bus attacked as brick smashes through windscreen after being dropped from motorway bridge
ASTON VILLA’s team coach has suffered “significant damage” after a brick was dropped from a motorway bridge that smashed through the windscreen.
Police are now appealing for witnesses or dashcam footage to snare the yobs for their shocking actions.
Villa played their Premier League fixture away at Burnley earlier today and ran out as 3-1 winners at Turf Moor.
Matty Cash grabbed a brace and summer signing Moussa Diaby scored the other to help the team bag all three points.
Lyle Foster did grab one for Burnley but it turned out to only be a consolation goal.
However, the Villans’ celebrations turned sour as the team coach was bricked on the way home.
Lancashire Police confirmed in a statement that a brick was dropped from a motorway footbridge and the front window suffered significant damage.
Coach footage has since been passed on to Lancashire Police.
The statement continues: “Thankfully nobody was injured. However this could have been a lot worse and clearly we will not stand for people putting motorists in danger in this way.
“We would now like to hear from anybody who was travelling along that stretch of motorway and who either saw the incident or saw those responsible.
“We would especially like to hear from anybody who has dashcam which could help with our enquiries.
Supt Melita Worswick, of Lancashire Police, added: “This incident occurred when a great deal of traffic was leaving the area following the football match between Burnley and Aston Villa.
“It is nothing but good fortune that the brick didn’t cause more damage, or result in somebody being seriously injured or even killed.
“We cannot say at this point whether this was a targeted attack but enquiries are ongoing and this will form part of our investigation.
“We are now determined to find the person or people responsible and are asking for anyone with information to get in touch. If you have any information or dashcam which can help us, please contact us as soon as possible.”
Burnley also released a statement saying: “Burnley Football Club is saddened and dismayed to learn about an attack on the Aston Villa team bus at junction 10 of the M65 after today’s match.
“Having spoken with Villa we are relieved to hear nobody was hurt in the incident.
“We strongly condemn this behaviour and will support Lancashire Police in their efforts to find whoever was responsible.”
The incident happened after Villa handed Burnley their second defeat of the season.
The three points helped Villa to back-to-back wins as they climbed up to seventh place in the Premier League table.
Manager Unai Emery praised his players after the game as he admitted that they followed through with the game plan.
He told club media: “I’m very happy. Our supporters, they were with us as well, they came from Birmingham to watch the game, to support us and we’re really very happy.
“We are feeling stronger with them. Those three points were very important in our idea to progress in the Premier League.
“After the match we played against Everton, a very good match as well, very good points after losing to Newcastle away.
“This was a very big challenge for us, we were speaking about it, and we tried to play tactically, defensively and offensively, strong. The players did the gameplan perfectly.”