A sports federation has two tasks when it comes to playing in the finals of a tournament: start the heinous work on time and make sure everyone enters the stadium in a safe, orderly fashion. UEFA failed to meet any of these goals in Saturday’s Champions League final.
The match at the Stade de France in Paris started 35 minutes after the start due to a pair of delays. The cause of the delay was not immediately clear, but word has finally surfaced that something went wrong and prevented thousands of Liverpool fans from entering the stadium on time. The first explanation anyone got from UEFA, which one did The announcement at the stadium blamed the late fans for the delay.
This interpretation quickly began to diverge as reports from outside the stadium filtered out. Fans and reporters at the venue made it clear that Liverpool fans had been standing in line for more than two hours, but could not enter the stadium because of their writing. Given to enter through a barrier and only through a gate. The Daily Message ‘Rob Draper was consistent with those Liverpool fans and described the complete organizational failure by those running things in the stadium:
When the game was over, UEFA moved away from the explanation of the late fans and tried to enter the stadium using the messy tickets of the Liverpool fans. A statement from UEFA stated that “at the start of the game, the turnstiles on the Liverpool side were blocked by thousands of fans who bought fake tickets that did not work in the turnstiles.” “This created a build-up for fans to try to get in. As a result, the kick-off was delayed by 35 minutes to allow fans to access as much as possible with the actual ticket.”
Even if there was a widespread problem with counterfeit tickets, and it’s hard to believe how quickly UEFA’s original excuse for the delay broke down, it still doesn’t adequately explain why there was only one gate open for Liverpool fans. And it doesn’t explicitly explain why the police decided to chase and tear gas fans who were only trying to take part in a game where they paid to participate.
No matter how much fans try to buy fake tickets, and no matter how much Liverpool fans get excited about not being allowed to enter the stadium, there is no good excuse for the kids to fall prey to pepper spray and tear gas. UEFA has tried and failed several times since the game to explain exactly what happened, and they still have a long way to go.