Liverpool and Real Madrid staged this Saturday the end of delay. Numerous incidents to gain access to the Stade de France, including a rush of fans, caused the match to start 37 minutes later than planned. The chaos around the stadium delayed the start of the match. And the only goal that decided an intense final, but less spectacular than expected, was also delayed.
The Real Madrid and Liverpool players waited until 9:37 p.m. for the referee’s initial whistle. One of the sporting events with the largest television audience in the world was delayed by more than half an hour. From the Heysel’s tragedy (Belgium) in 1985, when 39 fans (most of them Italians) died after an avalanche, a Champions League final did not start so late. Unlike the tragic duel between Juventus and Liverpool, this time there were no fatalities, although there were chaotic moments at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, located on the northern outskirts of Paris.
false tickets
There were very long and slow queues of fans to get into the stadium, caused by the presence of Liverpool supporters with fake tickets purchased at scalping. To that was added a poor organization UEFA and French security agents. These multiple factors contributed to the tension rising.
The situation led to two avalanches of English fans that ended up breaking the first security cordon around the stadium. Which led to attempts to sneak into the compound, even jumping fences. A chaos that not only delayed the start of the game, but also involved collateral casualties. For example, Liverpool fans who, despite having their ticket, not only stayed outside the stadium, but were also gassed by the police.
This mess marked the previous hours, and the incidents continued while the game was going on. Hundreds of people, many of them French, wandered right next to the stadium, an area initially reserved for spectators. were produced police charges against English fans, both around the Stade de France and near the Liverpool fan zone, set up near the Bois de Vincennes in south-east Paris.
Controversial distribution of tickets
A poor image is given by the organization chaired by Aleksander Ceferin, but also by France, which is to organize the 2024 Olympic Games. Before the match, it had already raised criticism of the distribution of tickets. Liverpool and Madrid only received around 22,000 tickets each for their fans, despite the Stade de France hosting more than 80,000 spectators. This situation favored the landing in Paris of some 60,000 English, many of them without entry.
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If it was the Liverpool fans who had the most difficulty accessing the stadium, on the field the Merengue players seemed to get their act together with several minutes of additional delay. The difficulties of Madrid, forced by the intensity and dominance of the “red”, they behaved that the goals were made to wait. The Madrid team barely shot during the first half.
But on one of his first occasions, after the break, Vinicius opened the scoring in the 60th minute. lonely goal of the skillful Brazilian decided a meeting less brilliant than expected. A final between two teams with many carats of football tradition, but which will sadly go down in history due to the incidents that occurred.