The Millennium Stadium can hold 74,000 people

Tickets for the game against West Ham United were taken from a delivery van while the postman was delivering to arch rival club Everton on Friday.

The stolen tickets have been cancelled and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff has refused to issue duplicates.

LFC chief executive Rick Parry said the situation was "unacceptable".

The missing tickets, which were destined for Reds supporters, have been identified and cancelled - but officials say that printing duplicates would cause a "safety hazard".

Surely, in this day and age, tickets could be printed with a barcode that could be scanned at the turnstile? Dave Murphy, Liverpool Supporters' Club

It means more than 1,600 seats at the sold-out match will be left empty and anyone sitting in them will be ejected by stadium officials.

Rick Parry said: "The decision is totally unacceptable and penalises ordinary supporters who have had the misfortune of being the innocent victims of a robbery.

"We do not understand why the Millennium Stadium have taken this decision, as duplicate tickets have been made available at every one of the six games we have played there.

"We are currently contacting every supporter who was sent tickets by special delivery on Friday to ascertain exactly how many tickets have been stolen."

Mr Parry said he was continuing a dialogue with the FA to try and get as many fans as possible to the game.

'Recipe for disaster'

Dave Murphy, of the Liverpool Official Supporters' Club, said fans had been left dismayed by the decision.

"People are being punished for something that was totally out of their control," said Mr Murphy.

"Surely, in this day and age, tickets could be printed with a barcode that could be scanned at the turnstile?"

Merseyside Police and stadium officials are warning fans not to buy tickets for Saturday's match at Cardiff from unauthorised sellers.

Millennium Stadium chief executive Paul Sergeant said safety officials had looked at all options but stood by their no duplicates policy.