Chelsea 's team bus was met with a chorus of boos as it arrived at the Riverside Stadium ahead of Saturday evening's FA Cup quarter-final against Middlesbrough.
The hostile reception came after the Blues submitted a request for the fixture to be played behind closed doors as they are prevented from selling new away tickets due to sanctions imposed on their Russian oligarch owner, Roman Abramovich. Chelsea faced mass backlash for the request with Middlesbrough branding it "bizarre and without any merit whatsoever" and Graeme Le Saux labelling it "embarrassing".
Having initially cited "sporting integrity" as the reason for game to be played in front of no fans, the West Londoners were forced into an embarrassing U-turn. However, the incident was fresh in the memory for Middlesbrough fans who emphatically booed the visitors on their arrival at the stadium.
The incident came shortly after Thomas Tuchel's players were spotted walking through the Teesside town while posing for pictures with fans.
The Blues were able to fly to Middlesbrough after their special sporting license, which allows them to continue football-related activities, was amended. The Stamford Bridge club had been prevented from paying over £20,000 for travel to away games but Tuchel confirmed the government had allowed them to spend over this sum ahead of the cup clash, meaning they were able to avoid a gruelling trip by road.
"Everybody worked hard to make it happen and it has gone through," the Chelsea manager said. "So it's organised that we can travel by plane, which is very, very good because as you know, we had the last match with only two days in between to rest, and it's very important to minimise the time of travel and maximise the time for recovery to reduce the risk of injury.
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"So yeah, we're very happy. Everything is organised as usual and we can prepare in a normal way."
While Chelsea were able to charter a plane to take them to Middlesbrough, they remain prevented from selling new away tickets due to the sanctions impacting the club. Roughly 600 fans occupied the away end having already purchased tickets to attend the quarter-final and there were some supporters spotted in the home stands wearing Chelsea shirts and hats.
The Blues reached the last eight with a 3-2 victory over Luton Town and Middlesbrough booked their spot with an eye-catching victory over Tottenham having defeated Manchester United in the previous round.
