Police braced as 43,000 fans head to Klagenfurt for Germany v Croatia clash

"After information from colleagues abroad we are expecting that some fans classed as risk individuals will try and reach Austria. We have numbers but I don't wish to disclose them," said Wolfgang Rauchegger, police commander for the local province of Carinthia.

Friendly relations: German and Croatian fans mix without trouble in Klagenfurt (above and below) but police fear it could turn nasty closer to the game and afterwards

Some 3,300 police will patrol Klagenfurt, the smallest of the Euro 2008 host cities, including Croatian and German hooligan spotters and 400 uniformed German police.

Around 15,000 fans are due from Germany and 25,000 from Croatia, which is only a few hours' drive away.

The Croats showed up in force for their team's opening game in Vienna.  

Austrian police detained 157 mainly German fans on Sunday in the city, where Germany beat Poland 2-0.  

Four of them had police records as violent individuals.    

Border checks are in place to try and weed out known troublemakers.  

Klagenfurt was trouble-free on the eve of Thursday's Group B match, as rain poured down on the city, with more due on match day.    

"We are expecting that it will be an essentially peaceful football party, but we are not naive and we have prepared for the fact that there could be incidents," said Rauchegger.    

Sad scenes: German and Austrian riot police detain a man during clashes between German and Polish fans on June 8

After earlier pleading for locals to attend the fan zones in the city, mayor Harald Scheucher said on Thursday: "Finally we have reached the point were locals are taking part."   

Klagenfurt, a city of quaint narrow streets and baroque churches, had been largely abandoned by locals on the day of the Germany versus Poland game.    

Local shopkeepers are angry that the big profits they expected have failed to materialise - particularly as fans travelling from nearby countries have tended to bring food and drink with them.   

"We are hoping it will improve... I think we've made a breakthrough now with locals and they've realised they have nothing to fear," said Scheucher.    

He added the city would consider compensating those who had paid high rents to put up stands and sell food in the inner city and who were threatened with massive losses.