Ex-Uefa official: This may be real reason for Liverpool fan chaos – ‘They won’t like me saying it’
Keith Hackett has suggested the chaos around the Stade de France before the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool on Saturday (28 May) was because the venue was changed at short notice.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Uefa and Premier League referee insisted Uefa were “really culpable” and need to take responsibility for the distressing scenes.
Kick-off was delayed by over half an hour after thousands of fans were locked out of the stadium and were on the end of heavy treatment by the police.
The game was originally scheduled to take place in St. Petersburg, Russia before it was switched to Paris because of the war in Ukraine.
Real Madrid eventually won the game 1-0 thanks to a Vincius Jr goal to win their 14th Champions League title.
“Uefa have a track record of planning all its games, it doesn’t matter if it’s a final or not,” Hackett told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“They have a match observer, a countdown clock and security measures in place. For the final, it goes beyond that, it’s almost immeasurable what they do.
“There’s been a breakdown here. They are used to operating long-term with the final, they know where it is, and the team go out and organise it.
“Because they switched it from Russia to France and Paris it’s a different kettle of fish.
“There’s no doubt that Uefa have to be responsible for what took place. It is their duty to ensure the safety of spectators, they hire the stadium so it is their responsibility. They cannot hide from the fact they left thousands of fans down.
“Uefa are really culpable with this and they won’t like me saying that.
“This is the difference with policing in Europe and this country. Not for the first time have I seen baton-wielding police forces come out and make a statement.
“People talk about coming off the underground to walk to the stadium and there were parked vehicles reducing the width of the walkway into the bottleneck. Those are the things that have to be avoided.”
In other news, Kieran Maguire has issued a ‘gigantic’ Liverpool claim as £400million-a-year talks are set to begin.