After hundreds of Liverpool fans were turned away from the Stade de France on May 28 and French police were caught on camera deploying tear gas on fans, the final was delayed by 36 minutes
According to an investigation into the confusion leading up to the 2022 Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid, organizer Uefa was to blame for the events that transpired, including “a significant number of near misses that almost resulted in calamity.”
Following the publication of an independent investigation on Monday, the governing body of European football, Uefa, apologized to Liverpool for initially blaming the club’s supporters for the chaos.
Following the match between Real Madrid and Liverpool on May 28 at the Stade de France, which Real won 1-0, and during which French police were caught on camera deploying tear gas on fans, including women and children, the final was delayed by 36 minutes.
At the time, Uefa and French officials attributed the mayhem to ticket fraud, but the assessment found no evidence to back up such assertions.
Tiago Brandao Rodrigues, a member of Portugal’s parliament who presided over the final, said that it “will be remembered as a moment of suffering for many fans but also should be a reminder of a situation we certainly do not want to witness again in the future at any sporting event in Europe or anywhere in the world.”
“In particular, I would like to apologize to Liverpool FC supporters for the experiences many of them had when attending the game and for the messages released prior to and during the game which had the effect of unfairly blaming them for the circumstance leading to the delayed kick-off,” he continued.
Liverpool expressed disappointment at not receiving a copy of the study prior to it being published in various British media outlets hours before it was actually made public.
The Merseyside club released a statement saying it was “hugely sad” that a study of such importance, important to the lives and future safety of football fans, should have been leaked and disseminated in this manner.
luation, he stated that the panel’s goal during the process was to “avoid future calamities and improve the service given at football events.” The team also included legal, policing, and event-management professionals as well as representatives from fan organizations.
Theodore Theodoridis, the general secretary of Uefa, stated that the organization “would like to sincerely apologize once more to all those who were impacted by the events that occurred on what should have been a celebration at the summit of the club season.”
“After the independent panel’s more than eight months of work, it is only right and proper to make the report’s contents available to our supporters as appropriate.”
Leave a Reply