Even as a glittering opening ceremony was underway inside the Stade de France, the venue of the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool, thousands of fans were held up outside the iconic venue due to poor arrangement. Plenty of ticket-holders were stranded outside the venue as alleged crowd trouble was reported in Pairs.
Visuals on social media suggested that plenty of ticket-holders were outside the gates that were closed at the Stade de France with security officials using pepper spray on a few fans, some of them seen with children and women.
A section of football fans, who were in Paris, alleged that French police used tear gas to control the crowd ahead of the Champions League final. There were long lines of fans waiting outside the stadium even the kick-off was nearing.
Notably, the kick-off of the Champions League final was initially delayed by 15 minutes and was eventually pushed back by another 15 minutes. The stadium announcers confirmed the delay in start to ensure fans made their way into the stadium and took their seats.
Eventually, the Champions League final got underway in Paris after a 36-minute delay. The Real Madrid and Liverpool players looked relaxed as they geared up for the biggest night in European football.
Pepper spraying fans outside stadium in Paris pic.twitter.com/drgzEpR9gD
– Mark Ogden (@MarkOgden_) May 28, 2022
The UEFA said the start of the final was delayed due to “security reasons” but football fans slammed the European football’s governing body and the French police for mismanaging the crowd in the French capital.
Andy Kelly, a Merseyside-based journalist, who was one of the many waiting outside the venue to get into the stadium gave a first-hand account of the chaotic scenes.
“Absolutely dreadful organisation at Stade de France. Here two and a half hours early, 1000s still outside. Police herded fans into dangerous bottleneck in underpass. Now gates shut with fans with tickets all stuck outside. Disgrace @uefa,” Kelly said.
This is now the scene at Gate A at Stade de France. Fans queuing patiently to get in but queue barely moving. pic.twitter.com/VV7Eh9sbXH
— Andy Kelly (@AndyK_LivNews) May 28, 2022
“Fans queuing outside with tickets for a gate that’s been shut for no reason just been tear-gassed. Throughly unpleasant experience and so dangerous. This isn’t how fans should be treated in a civilised society. Unacceptable,” he added.
“Update: Entered stadium at 916, a quarter of an hour after intended kickoff after getting off Stade de France metro at 630 odd. So angry and so many fans just gave up. Every single one should sue @uefa and French police. Joke what we have to put up with.”
A sparkly opening ceremony to a final while people are pepper strayed outside. Hmmmm.
— Daniel Storey (@danielstorey85) May 28, 2022
I’m not sure it’s possible to have a more poorly organised event if you tried. Absolutely shambolic and dangerous. @UEFAcom
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) May 28, 2022
The speed with which UEFA’s transparent attempt to blame fans for complete organisational failure has been swallowed despite literally gigabytes of available evidence is really dispiriting.
— Rory Smith (@RorySmith) May 28, 2022
The scenes were reminiscent of the chaos outside Wembley Stadium before the European Championship final last year between England and Italy.