Giving real fans more tickets may prevent the chaos
The scenes at last Saturday’s’s Champions League Final in Paris were totally unacceptable.
What the Liverpool supporters had to go through was appalling.
I was at the Stade de France, and the whole thing was an absolute shambles.
I thought the fans showed great restraint and patience as they tried to get into the stadium to see the game, only to be faced by tear gas, pepper spray and what appeared local youths intent on causing mayhem.
UEFA initially went into defensive mode, but have since offered an apology.
They stated: “No football fan should be put in that situation, and it must not happen again.”
Absolutely correct.
The fans caught up in the chaos deserved an apology and an explanation from UEFA.
They could not be seen to undermine the supporters, and attempt to sweep what went on under the carpet.
On the back of Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt complaining about incidents around their Europa League Final in Seville, UEFA have got it badly wrong in their two showpiece games.
I look forward to a detailed account of their findings.
Internally, they need to take a good look at themselves.
Moving forward, a good starting point should be to give clubs competing in the Finals more of a ticket allocation. Getting just 20% of the tickets available is just not on.
It deprives loyal fans of seeing their team and, instead, too many tickets are given to random people.
Of course, on the park, it was very unfortunate that we didn’t win the Final.
The Liverpool players came up against an inspirational performance from Thibaut Courtois in the Real Madrid goal. He had two world-class saves.
It would have been nice to see Jordan Henderson lift the trophy again, but it wasn’t to be.
Overall, Jurgen Klopp and the players can be very proud of the campaign.
To lose the Premier League title by a point to Manchester City was no disgrace.
City and Liverpool produced some sensational football, and both clubs’ levels of consistency should be applauded.
The FA Cup and League Cup are in the Anfield trophy cabinet, and the players will be back ready to go in the new season.