(Reuters) -Liverpool welcomed a review into the 2022 Champions League final which said organisers UEFA were responsible for the chaos before the game, calling on the European soccer governing body to “take positive and transparent action” to ensure the safety of fans.
UEFA apologised to Liverpool for initially blaming the Merseyside club’s fans for the mayhem following the release of the independent review on Monday.
The final was delayed by 36 minutes after thousands of Liverpool supporters were unable to get into the Stade de France in Paris for the match on May 28, which Real won 1-0, while French police were filmed using tear gas on fans including women and children.
“(The report) fully vindicates Liverpool fans while finding UEFA primarily responsible for organisational failings, absence of overall control or oversight of safety and security, poor planning and lack of contingency plans,” Liverpool said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The evidence-based panel report also found that there was ‘a clear and immediate danger of a fatal crush’ and that the action of Liverpool supporters saved lives.”
The 220-page review followed an investigation chaired by Tiago Brandao Rodrigues, a member of Portugal’s parliament, and had a panel including legal, policing and event-management consultants as well as representatives from fan groups, which outlined 21 recommendations.
“… we call on UEFA and others at the top of the football regulation pyramid to come together and take positive and transparent action to ensure there are no more ‘near misses’,” Liverpool said.
“We implore UEFA to fully enact the recommendations as outlined by the panel, no matter how difficult, to ensure supporter safety is the number one priority at the heart of every UEFA football fixture.”
The report added that the parallels between last year’s Champions League final and the 1989 Hillsborough soccer stadium disaster — in which 97 Liverpool supporters lost their lives — were “palpable”.
“It is shocking that more than 30 years after the Hillsborough disaster any club and our group of fans would be subject to such fundamental safety failings which have had such a devastating impact on so many,” Liverpool said.
“But even more concerning is the realisation that for families, friends and survivors of Hillsborough, Paris has only exacerbated their suffering.”
Following the final, much of the blame was placed on Liverpool fans by France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin but he acknowledged police were caught off-guard by several hundred local “delinquents” who turned up to cause trouble.
Liverpool supporters group ‘Spirit of Shankly’ said the report had “exonerated” the Premier League club’s fans.
“The blame game began even before a ball was kicked, and in the immediate aftermath those supposedly in charge – UEFA and the authorities – had no hesitation in pointing the finger at supporters,” the group said in a statement.
“But now with the publication of the report it is clear, the fans bear no culpability, the panel concluding ‘overarching organisational failures’ were the root of what went so badly wrong.”
The group added that it expected an apology for “lies and smears” directed at supporters.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in BengaluruEditing by Christian Radnedge)
