Champions League Final ‘disorganization’: ‘I was close to death,’ says former
Tens of thousands of fans filtered through Paris towards the Stade de France ready to watch Liverpool and Real Madrid go head-to-head for European club football’s premier prize.
But for former Liverpool player Alan Kennedy, the match was marred by a terrifying experience, leaving him fearing there would be “loss of life.”
The hugely anticipated showdown was peppered with an array of chaotic moments: France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on Wednesday apologized for the “disproportionate use” of tear gas by the French police during the final and said an investigation has been opened into police actions.
The match itself was delayed by more than 35 minutes after Liverpool fans struggled to enter the Stade de France and tear gas was used by French police towards supporters held in tightly packed areas.
Now, in the week following the game, a disorganized picture has emerged: photos showing fans crammed into fenced areas after a bottleneck formed around a particularly tight entry point at the Liverpool end, while many fans with tickets say they were held back from entering the stadium in dangerously crowded areas and that communication from security was poor.
“I have to say, it was absolute chaos. And if it wasn’t for my son and if it wasn’t for the people helping me get over the fence — and it was a metal fence which was difficult to get over — if they weren’t there, then I would have been in serious trouble,” said Kennedy, who scored the winning goal in Paris against Real Madrid in the 1981 European Cup final.
“The pressure was coming from all sides. It seemed to be that, you know, people were coming from the right. They were coming from the left. They were even coming from straight on,” he said. “Whichever way we turned … we were going the wrong way.
“I remember being at a point where I just said to myself: this is so dangerous. There’s going to be a loss of life. I felt as though I was physically struggling against a lot of people.”
Eventually, two men on a metal fence got hold of him and were able to lift him to the other side, Kennedy said.
“I was really, really afraid,” he said, adding that he was aware of “the tragedies that have been over the years. And I would never wish that on anybody because you don’t know which is the best way to turn. You didn’t know which was the best way to go.”
Real Madrid fans experienced similar issues to those Kennedy describes around the stadium last weekend, with visitors speaking of poor instruction by UEFA and stadium officials, inadequate crowd control and violent incidents.
“As can clearly be seen in the revealing images which the press has published, many fans were assaulted, harassed, mugged and violently robbed. Events which also took place when people drove in their…
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