The UEFA has switched two Champions League games and a UEFA Cup tie out of Turkey to neutral venues due to security concerns after last week's bomb attacks.

Galatasaray's Champions League match with Juventus, initially due to be played on Tuesday, and Besiktas's game against Chelsea in two weeks will now be played outside Turkey. The dates and venues have yet to be decided.

Israeli club Maccabi Haifa, who are not permitted to play in their home country because of UEFA safety issues, will also have their UEFA Cup tie against Valencia moved from Turkey.

Two suicide bomb attacks on the British consulate and HSBC bank headquarters in Istanbul last week killed 31 people and injured hundreds more. The attacks followed bombings at two Istanbul synagogues this month that killed 25 people.

Britain has warned that further attacks in Turkey could be imminent.

UEFA said in a statement: "The decision...follows a broad evaluation of the current threat to security, the advice offered by various governments, including the assurances offered by the Turkish government, and the investigations still being undertaken by the relevant authorities".

DISGRACE

Besiktas coach Mircea Lucescu condemned the decision to switch the Chelsea match and accused UEFA of kowtowing to wealthy clubs who he said were using the situation in Turkey as an excuse to avoid potentially difficult away fixtures.

"It's a disgrace. This just proves that the big clubs pull the strings and the small ones are forced to go along with it," Lucescu told reporters on Tuesday.

"The [Turkish] state can guarantee security. You cannot allow fear to dictate football decisions.

"Would Italian soldiers pull out of [the southern Iraqi city of] Nassiriya because of the attack on them? No, they stay because they are men and because they refuse to be intimidated."

Nineteen Italians - 17 military and two civilians - were killed in Iraq on November 12 when suicide bombers devastated an Italian military base in Nassiriya.

UEFA's statement added: "Taking everything into account, the Emergency Panel felt that it was in the overall interests of the clubs, players, fans and European football in general to move these particular ties at this time".

"Steps will now be taken to establish the venues and dates for these matches."

The decision was taken by UEFA's Emergency Committee at a meeting in Brussels.