Celtic fans hit with stringent Aston Villa Champions League ticket ...

Celtic have revealed the strict ticket collection process fans will have to go through for their Battle of Britain Champions League clash with Aston Villa.

The Premiership champions take on Unai Emery's men in Birmingham at the end of this month to round off their Champions League group stage clash. It's the blockbuster fixture fans have been looking forward to since the draw was made last year, but in order to get the maximum number of tickets available to them, the Parkhead club have had to agree to Villa's somewhat convoluted collection process. It was expected to be an allocation of 2500 but there were only be 2100 away fans in attendance.

And it involves having to prove your identity, showing a voucher and collecting your brief for the match in person at a specified location in the second city. A club statement read: "To secure the maximum away ticket allocation for the match at Villa Park, Celtic supporters will be required to collect their tickets in person at a designated Birmingham location on game day. This follows lengthy negotiations between Celtic, Aston Villa, and local authorities. We have been asked to follow this procedure which has previously been used for other European ties at Villa Park.

"Tickets for the match against Aston Villa are now on sale online only to eligible Season Ticket holders. The deadline for eligible Season Ticket holders to purchase tickets is 2pm on Friday, January 17.

"After purchasing a ticket online, Season Ticket holders will need to collect a voucher in person from the Ticket Office at Celtic Park. This voucher must then be presented in Birmingham with valid photo ID to collect the corresponding match ticket.

"Valid photo identification (valid passport or photo driving licence only) and your email confirmation must be presented when collecting the voucher in Glasgow and your voucher and valid photo ID must be present to collect the match ticket in Birmingham."