A West Ham supporter has been left with 'life-threatening injuries' after being involved in a collision with a road sweeper ahead of their Europa League quarter-final against Bayer Leverkusen., according to local police.
The 68-year-old was said to have been at a traffic light in Cologne when he fell under the trucks brushes and suffered head injuries.
He was then rushed off to hospital and is now said to be in a stable condition.
A Cologne police spokesperson said: "According to witnesses, the 68-year-old crossed Trankgasse at the pedestrian traffic light at around 9.20pm, presumably on red.
West Ham face Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League
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"The cleaning vehicle coming from the direction of Comedy Street hit him. Immediately after the collision, the driver aged 29 suddenly steered his sweeper into a traffic light pole. He also suffered minor injuries.
"The police deployed a traffic accident investigation team to secure evidence and cordoned off a large area of the accident site."
Thousands of Hammers fans have travelled to Germany for the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final against Bundesliga leaders Leverkusen.
West Ham will be up against the odds with Xabi Alonso's side unbeaten in all competitions this season.
However, David Moyes is feeling optimistic about his side's chances of causing an upset.
"I see it as a great opportunity. We've had a good run in Europe and played a lot of good teams, and tomorrow we play another one," he said.
"Hopefully we can rise to the challenge and perform well.
"Both teams have eleven players, so it's an even game at the start.
"We know Leverkusen are a very good team, but we believe in our abilities."
But West Ham's chances have been dealt a blow after Jarrod Bowen was ruled out through injury.
The attacker has scored 19 goals this season and put himself in contention to be a part of the England squad for this summer's European Championships.
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But he sustained an injury in West Ham's game against Wolves last weekend and Moyes was unable to confirm when Bowen is likely to return.
Moyes said: "Jarrod isn't with us, he's twisted his knee and there's some sort of damage.
"We can't give any dates of when he might be back, unfortunately.
"He's an England international and we know how important he is to our team, so he'll be a miss for sure. But we have good players who can come in, so we'll stay positive."
