An independent report commission has shared the eight ways the Champions League Final between Liverpool and Real Madrid "almost led to disaster".
A panel of experts was set up by UEFA last summer to investigate the poor treatment of thousands of Liverpool fans who travelled to the Champions League Final on May 28, 2022. Fans outside the Stade de France were tear gassed by riot police, crushed when trying to enter the stadium and mugged by armed gangs of locals.
The group has now finalised its conclusions with a 158-page report being published. Along with confirming a number of lies told by the French police and authorities, the report says UEFA bears "primary responsibility" for the chaotic scenes.
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Here are the eight factors the independent report said "almost led to disaster" at the UEFA Champions League Final, which we have condensed into five categories.
Travel
Points one to three are all based on travel to the Stade de France. The panel says a disproportionately large number of Liverpool supporters were directed to arrive via the "Stade de France: Saint-Denis" station, on train line RER D, which was closest to the southwest of the stadium, compared to the volume of people attending other major events at the stadium.
"Defective" route planning between RER D and the stadium, resulted in too many people being directed by police toward the stadium via the south-west ASP3 entrance (Additional Security Perimeter entrance 3). The report also mentions defective access arrangements at the ASPs.
The report found the effect of this was particularly acute at ASP3 because of the increased pressure created by the flawed routing, and that it was positioned on a restricted access ramp: a bottleneck.
Ticketing and turnstiles
Points four and five of the report relates to ticketing and turnstiles. The report mentions the use of two different forms of tickets, without extra measures to maintain throughput rates, which made access problems even worse.
According to the panel defective turnstile arrangements failed to ensure a sufficient throughput rate to guarantee safe entry.
Failure to police local gangs
The report also says the activities of large groups of locals, some of who were involved in attacks on supporters, was something that "almost led to disaster". The gangs attempted to breach the perimeters and turnstiles to gain entry to the stadium, and according to the report there was "a failure to police them".
Use of tear gas
The report states that the use of tear gas and pepper spray in the confined space on the concourse was another factor that "almost led to disaster". Further on in the report it mentions that this "weaponry has no place at a festival of football".
No plan B
The final point the independent report makes clear is that there was a lack of contingency plans relating to both additional perimeter and turnstile access for when things went wrong.
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