Unanimous. This is how to qualify the reactions following the organization of the Champions League final, this Saturday at the Stade de France. If the European media are not unaware of the victory of Real Madrid against Liverpool (1-0), all have harsh words against the incidents which marred a “chaotic and shameful” evening, according to our special correspondents.
The British media, present en masse to follow Liverpool, logically insist on the serious shortcomings observed on the sidelines of the meeting due to the difficulties of access to the Stade de France, which delayed the kick-off of the match by more than 30 minutes. and caused tensions outside.
SEE ALSO – Tear gas, intrusions … Scenes of chaos at the Stade de France before the Champions League final
The tabloid The Sun is the most virulent with a title in French (“Stade de Farce”) and the testimony of Marvin Matip, the brother of Reds defender Joël Matip, who said he had to take refuge in a restaurant with his pregnant wife to escape the tear gas scattered in their direction.
The Daily Telegraph publishes the damning story of Jason Burt, the head of the newspaper’s football section. “I was in front of Gate Y when I was caught in the tear gas used indiscriminately by the French riot police at the Stade de France, he said. I was talking to supporters who had been waiting quietly, some for three hours, when they reached my face, stinging my eyes, lips and tongue. I saw that we dispersed some. I could not believe it. […] It was absolutely shameful.”
Highlighting the “bottlenecks” towards which Liverpool supporters were directed despite arriving two and a half hours before kick-off and the “unbearably slow” checks, Jason Burt believes that “it is a shame that UEFA accused the fans of arriving late. It is simply wrong. They tried to launch their version. Now they have to apologize.”
In the Spanish press, we talk above all about Real Madrid’s 14th European title. But the incidents of the evening also hold a large place. Alfredo Relano, honorary president of the sports daily AS and respected voice of Spanish football, is very harsh in an editorial, denouncing Liverpool and “the hordes of barbarians without entry tickets” who “created an unnamed scandal at the gates of the stadium, which could well have caused a disaster, even if everything is fortunately back in order with the delay of the kick-off.
“A shame: the final started half an hour late because of the chaos at the entrance to the stadium,” the Catalan daily Sport posted on its front page on Sunday. The German media are also wondering about UEFA’s organizational flaws. “The evening of chaos,” writes Bild.
In Italy, the Corriere dello Sport comes back like all the Italian press on the “flop of the organization” in Paris. “A bad evening at the end of a sad season for France, where security and public order problems have multiplied in the stadiums”, writes the Roman newspaper.
