SURREAL is the only description for some of the scenes at the Excelsior Stadium on Sunday when the presence of 80-100 Paris Saint-Germain ultras was matched by a similar number of police officers, some of them on horseback, keeping the French fans under the tightest of reins.

This, let us not forget, was a women's football match, albeit that the Uefa Women's Champions League quarter final was most high profile club game ever held in Scotland. Glasgow City's supporters, as well as the curious dipping their toes into the sport for the first time, tend to be family-orientated. A few stewards would normally be the sum of the security presence.

Instead, the sight that greeted early arrivals was a phalanx of ultras, flanked on both sides by police officers and followed by vans and horses, being marched down the hill to the entrance of the ground - and up the incline to the stadium itself. Only the Grand Old Duke of York was posted missing.

The ultras were then directed into the stand - normally shut for City's matches - opposite where the rest of the crowd were sitting, penned into a section of it, and monitored by many beady police eyes throughout the match.

They were also very close to the area where the press were working, and supported PSG with an incessant chanting which didn't drop in intensity from the first second until the moment when German referee Riem Hussien blew the final whistle. To this untrained observer they were as threatening as leaves fluttering from the trees.

They also seemed civilised; standing beside one at the fast food outlet underneath the stand, his disdain for the mince pies which were the only food on offer was both polite yet expressive of what he thought of Scottish football cuisine.

Despite this, Police Scotland had clearly received information which justified this high profile and almost militaristic operation. There is indeed a history of violence, and even deaths, among some of the hard core PSG support. Some fans groups, including ultras, are banned from attending Paris Saint-Germain's home matches at the Parc des Princes - itself a source of tension.

In the 1980s he club had trouble with right wing fans imitating the worst of the then English hooligans, espousing virulent racism and also fascism. The "Boulogne Boys" in turn spawned a left wing, anti-racist, ultra culture with ensuing violent clashes, the worst of which led to a fan being shot dead by police in 2006, and another killed following clashes between two rival factions in 2010.

All such fan groups were banned from the Parc des Princess that year, but not before a spectacular massed show of defiance involving pyrotechnics. A hard core of PSG fans were also blamed for attacking Chelsea supporters with bottles and chairs in Paris eleven months ago.

Set against such a backdrop, Police Scotland were taking no chances whatsoever on Sunday, with the ultras being escorted from the train station in Airdrie to the Excelsior and back again. For their part they showed no obvious rancour, and were rewarded when the PSG players, led by team captain Sabrina Delannoy, crossed the pitch to applaud them and shake hands.

Laura Montgomery, City's estimable club manager, had nothing but praise for the police yesterday. It is understood that the Glasgow club, who operate on a shoestring compared with PSG, had to bear some of the police costs, but by no means all.

"These are supporters who are banned by PSG and deemed high risk," Montgomery pointed out. "We worked very closely with the police and Uefa in numerous meetings leading up to the match.

"Our main priority was that everyone in the stadium was safe and secure. PSG did raise concerns with us, but to be honest they didn't need to because the police were aware of them already. There was a huge amount of intelligence and Police Scotland were absolutely outstanding in the way they dealt with it.

"They permitted these banned supporters to come to the match under strict instructions. They in turn enjoyed the game and added to the atmosphere, so it worked very well."