NICOSIA, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Cypriot police deployed a strong force of anti riot policemen on Thursday to deal with possible trouble from several thousand Eintracht Frankfurt football club fans who followed their team for its group H return match with local Apollon team.

Police said that about 4,500 Eintracht fans travelled to Cyprus for the match, which starts at 19:55 local time (17.55 GMT) in Nicosia.

A detachment of German policemen also arrived in Nicosia to help the Cypriot police in controlling unruly German fans.

Groups of Eintracht fans attacked Apollon fans in the streets of Frankfurt prior to the first leg match between the two teams two weeks ago.

The German fans are expected to outnumber the couple of thousand Apollon fans who obtained a ticket at the Nicosia GSP stadium.

Eintracht, who beat Apollon 2-0 in their first match in Frankfurt, leads group H with 9 points, with Apollon in last place with just one point.