It was the showpiece evening that brought European football uncomfortably close to tragedy.
The 2022 Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid was meant to be a celebratory night but instead placed thousands of supporters in grave danger outside the Stade de France, near Paris.
“It is remarkable that no one lost their life.”
That was among the most sobering lines of a damning independent review that left European football’s governing body UEFA with nowhere to hide last night. Others, including local authorities and police, could not avoid criticism either but the Champions League organisers were told the buck must stop with them.
“UEFA, as event owner, bears primary responsibility for failures which almost led to disaster,” concluded an exhaustive review spanning 220 pages, which drew on testimonies from key stakeholders and witnesses, including many fans, although Real Madrid chose not to cooperate.
It also drew comparisons with Hillsborough, saying many Liverpool survivors in the crowd in Paris were survivors of the 1989 disaster in which 97 people died.
“The parallels between Hillsborough 1989 and Paris 2022 are palpable,” said the report. “The similarities include the fact that both events were preventable, and both were caused by the failures of…
