sport news The approach to the stadium for what should have been a joyous occasion felt ... trends now

sport news The approach to the stadium for what should have been a joyous occasion felt ... trends now
sport news The approach to the stadium for what should have been a joyous occasion felt ... trends now

sport news The approach to the stadium for what should have been a joyous occasion felt ... trends now

Jurgen Klopp was grinning at the end, applauding and embracing Real Madrid players as he walked through to collect a losers’ medal. He waited in the area cordoned off for the Liverpool players to corral his troops. Then he placed his hand on his heart, which was emblazoned with a Liverpool badge and raised his arm and then a fist to the handful of remaining Liverpool fans. He thumped his heart and in that moment you knew, behind the smile, the pain of defeat cut deep, but that he would use it to rouse this team again.

There would be no treble. No seventh European Cup. Real Madrid, who probably should have been knocked out by Paris St Germain, by Chelsea and by Manchester City, and who were hanging on at the end here, indebted to the sheer immensity of Thibaut Courtois’s refusal to yield.

And yet, as the confetti canons blasted, the fireworks began, and the party was in full swing for Madristas, your mind went back to hours before this final. To how close we came yet again to a complete breakdown of order, how the benign and glorious almost turned dark and tragic.

Vinicius Junior's goal ensured Real Madrid won their 14th Champions League crown

Vinicius Junior's goal ensured Real Madrid won their 14th Champions League crown

Approaching the Stade de France, two hours before kick off, for an experienced football fan there was a sense of awful foreboding. What had been a delightful and joyous scene en route to the stadium and during the day in Paris was turning tense and nasty. And as football fans we’ve been here before. Too many times.

I’ve been attending football games since 1978. Many times, you have sensed a situation getting out of control. As a teenage fan, we watched and agonised over what Liverpool fans went through at Hillsborough and mourned the 97 dead. 

All those years prior to 1989 you had thought someone was in charge, that someone was in control of all those crowd surges and what felt like dangerous squashes getting in and out grounds. And then came Lord Justice Taylor’s report and it clear that the police and football authorities had no idea. They were making it up as they went along.

Liverpool fans reported heavy handed tactics from the French police as well as tear gas use

Liverpool fans reported heavy handed tactics from the French police as well as tear gas use

Saturday night felt a little like that. Having attended the Euro 2020 final last summer, it was astonishing that UEFA’s next showpiece event was also descending into chaos. It also comes just five months people lost their life in a crush at the Cameroon versus Comoros match at the African Cup of Nations. 

By the end here, there was pepper spray and tear gas as police lost control of a situation entirely of their own making. There were children in tears, blind fans attempting to navigate the crush with guides desperately trying to help them through. And not at any stage did there seem to be anyone with the authority to take control.

Shamefully, when it became clear the game couldn’t kick off on time, the PA announcer at the stadium said the game had been delayed ‘due to late arrival of fans.’ Not the ineptitude of police, not their own complete failure to organise security. No, fans were to blame again.

Maybe this was an overreaction to that night of ticketless fans storming gates at Wembley last July. But this was different. The mood was benign, not toxic like at Wembley. Fans were mingling, their respective songs being sung good-naturedly. But as you approached the stadium, to anyone with any experience of crowds, the situation was dangerously shambolic. And this was 7pm, two hours before 9pm kick off.

A French police officer sprays tear gas through a fence at Liverpool fans not allowed past

A French police officer sprays tear gas through a fence at Liverpool fans not allowed past

As you got within 50m of the Stade de France, the bottlenecks began. Incredibly, police had parked three police vans to block a walkway leaving only a narrow three or four metre gaps to walk through. The reason was unclear. It was obvious what would ensure. The build-up of fans was growing. 

At 19.05 I first I spoke to police in French and told them it was dangerous, to move the vans. Most just shrugged. Some tried to help. This is when I saw the blind fans trying to negotiate their way through a narrow gap. As I grew more frustrated –

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