2 hours ago
Liverpool Football Club has demanded an investigation into “unacceptable problems” faced by fans that led to the postponement of the start of the Champions League final against Real Madrid of Spain.
The European Football Association postponed the start of the match for more than half an hour “for security reasons”.
Real Madrid won the match that was held in Paris on Saturday evening.
The French police fired tear gas to disperse fans outside the stadium, amid attempts by a number of fans to bypass the security barriers.
Liverpool defender Andy Robertson described the organization of the match as a “chaos”.
And police officers who participated in securing the sports meeting described the Champions League final as “the worst European match that we have worked to secure or watched.”
Pictures taken in front of the stadium showed a long line of fans standing waiting for their turn to enter.
Many claimed that they were in the stadium long hours before the start of the match, but were denied access to the viewing areas inside the stadium.
Liverpool Football Club said in a statement issued in this regard: “We express our deep dissatisfaction with the problems that occurred during the entry to the stadium and the storming of security barriers in the vicinity of the stadium, which the Liverpool fans were exposed to.”
“It is the most important European football match, and fans should not have been exposed to the kind of scenes we saw tonight,” the statement added.
He continued, “We officially demanded an investigation into the reasons behind these unacceptable problems.”
UEFA expressed its sympathy to the fans affected by these events, saying: “We will conduct a further review of what happened immediately with the police and authorities in France, and with the French Football Federation.”
picture released, Getty Images
Real Madrid won the Champions League this season after beating Liverpool
“Shortly before the start of the match, the turnstiles were disrupted by thousands of people carrying fake tickets that could not be used to open the gates,” UEFA explained.
He added, “This caused a large number of fans to accumulate in front of the gates in an attempt to enter the stadium. Therefore, the start of the match was postponed for about 35 minutes to enable many fans with real tickets to enter.”
And the Federation continued: “A number of fans accumulated outside the stadium after the start of the match.”
And the French police appealed to the fans not to try to storm the stadium by force, in a tweet on its account on the social networking site Twitter, 20 minutes before the match was supposed to start.
As the start time approached, some fans were climbing the separation fence while others were trying to get past the security barriers. Riot police were also present at the scene during the match.
About minutes after the start of the match, the Liverpool players appeared on the pitch to perform some warm-up exercises. And messages appeared on the stadium screens indicating that the start of the match was postponed due to the late entry of the fans.
The French police said that fans, who were carrying fake tickets, tried to enter the stadium by force, but “the quick intervention of the police succeeded in restoring calm.”
She added that they were able to disperse the crowd “without any difficulty in doing so.”
Police also confirmed that there were no serious accidents in the areas where the public gathered in Paris.
‘irrational position’
BBC journalist Nick Parrott, who was off the field in a personal capacity, said: “I was peppered for the first time in my life. I’ve been to the Champions League final before, but never before have I been peppered.”
He explained that he was in front of one of the gates for about an hour and a half without allowing anyone to enter before “the security staff on the other side of the gate advanced and fired pepper spray.”
“Thousands of fans are still stuck outside the stadium, keeping their calm while facing this illogical situation,” the European Football Supporters’ Association said ten minutes after the scheduled start of the match.
“The fans in the Champions League final do not bear any responsibility for the farce we witnessed tonight,” she added.
picture released, PA Media
Liverpool FC says its fans have had problems entering the stadium in France
BBC sports journalist John Watson said: “I passed hundreds of Liverpool fans who were queuing at the gates an hour before the match started, and none of them were allowed to enter.”
Watson added: “I am confused and do not understand how the delay of the fans could be the reason for the postponement of the match.”
Liverpool defender Robertson indicated that he gave a ticket to a friend of his, but it did not allow him to enter.
“One of my friends told me the ticket I gave him was fake, but I assured him it wasn’t,” Robertson said.
“It was a horrific experience for our fans and for the families who went through that situation as well. It was not a good experience at all, and it was not a final you would be happy to attend. The Champions League final is supposed to be a celebration, but it wasn’t.”
“I’ve been in the worst situation of my life,” Ian Byrne, a member of parliament for the Liverpool derby constituency, said on his Twitter account, blaming UEFA. He also noted that “bad organization put people’s lives at risk.”
“I prayed that none of the fans were harmed by the shameful lack of organization and experts,” he added.
Dominic King of the Daily Mail told the BBC he was talking to fans who had lined up to enter the stadium.
“The problem just came out of nowhere, there was no violence or hostility,” King said. “There was just resentment in the public over the way the authorities treated them.”
One of Tyler, a Liverpool fan who paid £1,000 to attend the match, told the BBC: “We were told 45 minutes ago that our section was full while thousands were still outside the stadium waiting to enter.”
This season’s Champions League final was scheduled to be played in Saint Petersburg, but the city was denied the right to organize the final due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.