Chaos reigned in Paris when the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid was delayed by 36 minutes amid terrifying scenes outside the Stade de France that saw a poor organization cause fans they were crushed dangerously and then sprayed back with pepper spray and tear gas as bottlenecks developed more than two hours before the start.
Following the bleak scenes that ruined the Euro 2020 final at Wembley last summer, UEFA’s organization is back in the spotlight and the blame game began on Saturday night, with French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin, blaming himself for the “ticketless” British fans, seemingly unconscious or ignorant of how the disorganization and ineptitude of the police force itself had started the initial confusion.
Thousands of fans and families of Liverpool players were caught in crowds as they were unable to enter the stadium in time for the scheduled start time, while riot police used the its tear gas and pepper spray on children and the elderly.
German television reported that Marvin Matip, the brother of Liverpool defender Joel, had to flee with his family and his pregnant wife while trying to enter the stadium due to tear gas deployed by police.
Alan Kennedy, the winner of the 1981 Liverpool European Cup match, who had to be helped over a fence near the stadium to avoid trouble. The Spanish Minister of Sports, José Manuel Franco, has been caught in dangerous situations, confirming that it has taken more than an hour to walk the last 100 meters to the stadium.
Police use tear gas on fans outside Champions League final at Stade de France
Fans were packed into cramped spaces, creating worrying bottleneck situations
It depicts a fan being held by police officers and an administrator during unsightly chaos
UEFA later said that fans with counterfeit tickets at the Liverpool end had caused blockages, because the barcodes of the fake tickets would not work on the turnstiles, causing a back of the fans.
However, the main initial bottleneck was caused by police parking vans across a wide pavement, reducing it to a 2-3 meter entrance that fans had to navigate in the vans. near Gate X.
It had nothing to do with the counterfeit tickets at the time and was 50 meters from the stadium and the end of Liverpool. Although they were told that dangerous crushing was accumulating, police said they could not move the vans and were waiting for the commanders ’authority to do so.
Fans were asked to alleviate the situation, but to no avail. All of this took place at 7pm, two hours before the start, with the vast majority of fans who had arrived on time and were in sight of the Liverpool final.
Officers were caught on camera watching the crowd around the stadium
On Friday, the soil of Paris was strangely calm, a stark contrast to the chaos of Saturday
Later, an announcement from the stadium would state that the match was delayed, blaming the late arrival of the fans.
TV character Gary Lineker described him as a “bullshit ** t” who was among the many people trapped: “I’m not sure it’s possible to have a worse-organized event if you try,” he tweeted. “Absolutely shabby and dangerous.”
UEFA will face serious questions after another of its highlights was ruined. There were violent scenes at last summer’s Euro 2020 final between England and Italy at Wembley, while this month’s two club finals, Rangers-Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville and Roma-Feyenoord in Tirana, they have had audience problems.
After the chaos of Euro 2020, it was assumed that fans without tickets or fans with fake tickets would not approach the ground. Once again, as at Wembley, fans were able to reach a few meters from the gates before ticket checks were made, where the stewards were overwhelmed.
The problems began in the early hours of the evening, when traffic delays and thorough security checks at the stadium caused overcrowding on the ground, with many doors and entrances closed and police carrying out a kettle operation. , channeling fans into narrow lanes.
Due to the build-up at the far end of Liverpool, fans were forced to walk down a two-lane sidewalk, which was blocked by roadworks, to Gate N, which was the end opposite of the terrain.
Tensions were out of control and the start of the final was delayed twice
The end of Liverpool’s ground was visibly calm as the fans struggled to occupy their seats
The walkways and doors to the ground were closed and thousands were cornered in a small area with only one door open: the N door. However, it was impossible to get so many people through a narrow door, as the authorities they seemed to have closed their doors because of the fear that there were fans with fake entry inside.
They were also crushed at Gate A and Gate Y at the Liverpool end.
French Interior Minister Darmanin blamed “thousands of British ‘supporters’, without tickets or with counterfeit tickets, forcing entry and sometimes assaulting administrators.”
Tweeting from the security of the stadium’s operations box, he seemed unaware of the situation on the ground and the channeling of police fans created initial chaos.
Liverpool said in a statement: “We are very disappointed with the problems entering the stadium and the breach of the security perimeter that Liverpool fans have faced tonight at the Stade de France.
“This is the best match in European football and fans should not experience the scenes we witnessed tonight.
“We have officially requested a formal investigation into the causes of these unacceptable problems.”
A large message was displayed inside the venue announcing that the match was delayed
I find it impossible to get down to earth. This seems very dangerous. Absolute carnage.
– Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) May 28, 2022
They insisted that they had raised safety issues with UEFA before the match and completely rejected UEFA’s claim that the fans had arrived late.
Some of the fans, who had paid £ 125 for a ticket, eventually gave up trying to enter to see their team play their third Champions League final in five years and the Liverpool final was only filled shortly before the match. . started at 20.36 (21.36 local time) with the intention of starting at 20.00.
It is estimated that up to 80,000 Liverpool fans had traveled to Paris, although many agreed that they would not be able to get tickets for the match at the stadium with a capacity for 71,000 people, of which 22,000 were allocated. to Liverpool.
Posts on social media showed scenes of severe congestion, with Liverpool fans barely able to move out of the A gate where they were to enter.
At Gate Y, just behind the Liverpool end, fans, including children and the elderly, complained of being trapped for two hours with pepper spray.
Riot police deployed after the initial drama to try to restore order abroad
Fans were waiting for the turnstiles as the start of the big show was fast approaching
There were also reports of French gangs increasing the confusion with attacks on fans. Tear gas continued to deploy off the ground during the first half as frustrated fans were unable to enter.
Distressing scenes were broadcast by Liverpool fans dressed in red T-shirts pressed against the doors with their eyes downcast with a combination of fear and tear gas.
An observer, Steve Douglas, tweeted: “A security guard took me to a cabin, told me to withdraw my credentials and then forced me to remove the video footage from the crowd’s problems, otherwise not would allow me to enter “.
The crushing was so bad in places where fans climbed into parked vehicles to stay safe. Police closed the Stade de France, closing all entry and exit points in the hall with a Uefa security official saying; “At the moment, it’s safer inside than outside.”
A journalist claimed that the police confiscated his media pass and forced him to delete the video of his fans spraying pepper before returning it.
Police officers and administrators watched the fans as they passed security checks
There were problems in the fan zone in central Paris with police accused of having a heavy hand in wading the crowds with their clubs and riot gear.
Eyewitness Marc Ward caught the issue in front of the camera, saying: “The French police have only one form of action, aggression and violence. I’ve covered hundreds of events and I don’t think I’ve ever thought they were well managed. what. ‘
UEFA tried to stay calm by first announcing a 15-minute delay for what they called “security reasons”, and then it was extended to half an hour and finally started afterwards.
The UEFA statement also seemed to want to blame the fans: “During the match, the turnstiles at the end of Liverpool were blocked by thousands of fans who had bought fake tickets that did not work on the turnstiles. This created an accumulation of As a result, the start was delayed by 35 minutes to allow as many fans with genuine tickets as possible to access it.
“As the number outside the stadium continued to increase after the start of the match, the police dispersed them with tear gas and forced them out of the stadium.
One of the fans was visibly frustrated by the treatment before the star-studded crash
“UEFA is sympathetic to those affected and will urgently review these matters with the French police and authorities and the French Football Federation.”
It was recently revealed that both Liverpool and Real Madrid received only 20,000 tickets each for the show, although the venue had a capacity of 80,000.
RMC claimed that at the entrance of the U gate, several fans had to go through the first screening, before the people pushing caused movements among the crowd. This was controlled by the police, but then several repetitions took place.
The publication said that any form of filtering had …