Another Champions League final, another sorry mess for UEFA to try and justify…
Liverpool fans who travelled to Paris for last year’s showpiece against Real Madrid were subjected to barbaric treatment outside the Stade de France (as were the Spanish club’s supporters) from heavy-handed police (Daily Mail).
Rather than accepting fault for the chaotic and dangerous scenes, though, the governing body of European football tried to lay blame on spectators who they accused of arriving late to the venue.
Following such a shambolic episode, and one which could easily have ended in tragedy had it not been for the restraint of the paying football fans, you’d have imagined UEFA would learn lessons and ensure it’d never happen again.
Unfortunately, the build-up to last night’s Champions League final was again marred by substandard organisation, with hordes of Manchester City supporters caught up in a bottleneck outside the Ataturk Stadium, with no movement at entry points to the venue.
As per The Mirror, a video on social media highlighted how a medical situation developed as one spectator was caught up in the overcrowding, with emergency services finding it an ordeal to get to the person in need of treatment.
Sports reporter Aadam Patel uploaded footage on Twitter from outside the stadium which showed how dangerously overcrowded it had become, with some supporters visibly and justifiably frustrated at how the situation was allowed to develop and how little was being done to rectify it.
We may enjoy poking fun at City over the sometimes subdued nature of their support base, but after the horrific events of Paris last year and now this, rivalry can be put to one side.
Many Liverpool fans could easily empathise with the plight of those who were caught up in the overcrowding in Istanbul last night, with the unacceptable scenes highlighting how UEFA have learned absolutely nothing from May 2022.
It’s simply not good enough from European football’s governing body.
You can see a clip of the chaotic pre-Champions League final scenes below, via @aadamp9 on Twitter:
City stewards from Manchester saying this is chaos. Fans barely moving in the queue. This is 2023… pic.twitter.com/OcBb2MIMnK
— Aadam Patel (@aadamp9) June 10, 2023